Lost in Translation
by Emerald1
Summary: McGee is found alone and injured. Was it an attack against him, the team or the agency? Or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? The team struggles to cope with guilt, real and imagined, as they search for the truth.
1. Chapter 1

a/n - Written for the 'Why are you torturing McGee?' challenge. Set very early in season 2, jsut a few months after McGee has been made an official member of the team.

Lost in Translation

"Where's McGee? He's late." Gibbs checked his watch for the third time in less than two minutes. This was the first time the newest member of his team had not been at his desk well before the official start of the day in the three months since he had joined them.

DiNozzo was looking forward to razzing the young man. "Haven't heard from him, Boss. Maybe he's been captured in one of his computer games." He gave one of his trademark grins as he slung his backpack under his desk.

"Be nice, Tony."

"I'm always nice, Kate."

"Really?" Kate swung around in her chair to face DiNozzo. "Then why was it McGee that walked me out to my car Friday night after we all had drinks at Guffy's? Not only that, but when he noticed that my tire was flat, he changed it for me so I didn't have to wait for road service."

Tony just shook his head. The Probie was such a Boy Scout. McGee wouldn't have used the opportunity to move in on a damsel in distress – what a waste, but at least he could tease Kate about it before the kid got there. "So, Kate, did you thank him in any special way?"

"You are such a pig, DiNozzo." She glared at him before returning to her work. Monday's always started with a visit from the paperwork fairy. Gibbs stared at DiNozzo, daring him to continue to taunt his partner when his cell phone rang. Speak of the devil.

"McGee, where in the hell are you?"

_~Boss…~_

"Speak up, McGee. I can barely hear you. Where are you?"

_~I… I don't know. ~_

Even as he responded, in the back of his mind, alarms were beginning to go off. That was a stutter of confusion, not the common hesitation he hadn't drilled out of the young man yet. "What do you mean; you don't know were you are?"

At his own desk, DiNozzo started to laugh. "Don't tell me that Probie got lost on his way to work. This is too perfect." Kate, however, picked up on the concern in the senior agent's voice.

"Tony, hush."

Gibbs was ignoring them both. "Talk to me, McGee." He stood, waiting for an answer that would tell him where to go.

_~Cold… woke up here… I'm in a field somewhere… don't know…" ~_

"What's the last thing you remember?" Gibbs tried to prod the other man for more information.

_~Kate had a flat tire, fixed… ~_

As his words faded off, Gibbs' alarm grew. "McGee, stay with me!" He turned to Kate. "Get Abby to run a trace on his phone, NOW." He returned his attention to his agent on the phone. "McGee, Tim, are you hurt? Are you injured?"

_~Cold… everything hurts… 'cept my legs… can't feel my legs… so tired, Boss…" ~_

"Stay awake, McGee." By now even DiNozzo realized that something was seriously wrong and stood, pulling on his coat. Kate hung up her phone and moved closer.

"Abby's got a general area; she'll send more details to us on the road." Gibbs acknowledged her with a nod of his head, his main focus being his lost agent.

"Did you hear that, McGee? We're on our way, just stay awake, kid. Just stay awake."

---NCIS---

Tony DiNozzo could count on one hand how many times Gibbs had let him drive while the older man was in the car. This time he hated the reason. The youngest member of their team lay in a field somewhere, injured, possibly paralyzed, waiting for them to find him. Gibbs was talking to him, forcing him to stay awake, but the responses were coming slower and required more prompting from his boss. An ambulance was on stand-by, waiting for a final location once they located McGee.

"How's he doing, Boss?" Tony split his attention between the road and the concerned visage of the senior agent. Gibbs just shook his head as he continued to coax answers from McGee.

"Tony, stop." Kate's frantic yell caused him to slam on the brakes. "According to Abby, we're right on top of him, Gibbs."

"McGee, can you see us?" When there was no response he leaned over DiNozzo's arm and blasted the horn, listening for it over the cell phone. When he heard the horn in stereo he climbed out of the car. "He's here, spread out." Gibbs began climbing down the steep slope as he continued to call out to McGee. DiNozzo and Todd also began searching.

"Found him." Kate dropped her pack and scrambled over a downed tree, falling to her knees as she reached him. "He's alive." Gibbs and DiNozzo reached him a few seconds later, Tony already on his phone for an ambulance.

"Lay still, kid, don't move." Gibbs settled next to McGee, checking him over while Kate braced his shoulders and head to prevent him from moving. McGee seemed only vaguely aware of their presence. Tony knelt beside them.

"Ambulance will be here soon. How is he?" In answer, Gibbs pulled McGee's left sleeve up to expose his raw and bloody wrist. Tony checked the right arm to find it in even worse shape. "Whatever happened, he fought it."

"Yeah." Gibbs continued his exam, his anger obviously growing. His fingers lingered on the torn skin at both corners of the young man's mouth before tracing the bruises that followed the damage and continued across both cheeks. The inside of his mouth was raw. "Damn it to hell." Without explaining, he pulled Tim's shirt loose and then checked his belt. DiNozzo removed one of his shoes and also began to swear.

Kate wasn't sure what they were finding. Before she could ask, she noticed a change in McGee and checked more closely.

"He's stopped breathing, Gibbs."

Gibbs ripped open McGee's shirt and applied a hard sternum rub, hoping to force a reaction of some sorts. When that failed, he tilted the young man's head back to begin rescue breathing. Kate moved to stop him.

"If he's got a spinal injury, this could make it worse."

DiNozzo reached out for her arm, allowing Gibbs to continue. "If he's brain dead, being paralyzed really won't matter." Shocked, Kate nodded and backed away. Sirens could be heard in the distance and she scrambled back up the hill to direct the paramedics to their injured friend. Tony moved closer, placing his hand on McGee's neck to monitor the weak pulse. "Come on kid, fight."

Thanks to Kate's instructions, the paramedics arrived at the scene with all the equipment they needed to stabilize the injured agent. His three teammates moved out of the way, but no further than was necessary to give them room to work. Gibbs grabbed Kate's arm and turned her towards him.

"I need you to go to the hospital with him. Make sure all the evidence on him is processed and have the doctors do a SAE kit." He waited, knowing the conservative woman hadn't fully understood the significance of what he and DiNozzo had seen.

"SAE kit? You think he was molested?"

"Kate," Gibbs knew there was no easy way to say it, so he listed out the facts for her. "McGee was restrained for a long period of time. Those marks on his face are from a ball gag. His skin is damp, but his clothes are dry. He's been redressed by someone else and judging from his dilated pupils, he's been drugged. Somebody did all that to him and then dumped his body out here in the middle of nowhere. Right now we have to assume the worst." He looked back over at his youngest agent. The paramedics had a tube down his throat and were strapping him down to a backboard. "Whoever did this may not realize he's still alive so don't let him out of your sight."

"They grabbed him Friday night, didn't they?" Kate looked like she wanted to say something else, but the paramedics were ready to move, so instead she followed the stretcher back up to the road. She gave him one last haunted look before she climbed into the back of the ambulance.

Gibbs turned back to the crushed grass where McGee had been found, his trained eye discerning a faint trail. Before he could follow it his cell phone rang. He groaned when he read the caller ID and flipped the phone open.

"Abby, he's alive and on his way to the hospital." He let her rant for a few minutes before cutting back in. "Abs, Kate is with him, she'll take care of him. I need you to stay at the lab. We need to get the bastards who did this." He didn't give her time to argue, just raised his voice over hers and continued. "I need you to have more agents sent out here; we've got potentially miles to cover. Ducky's flight should be arriving soon; have him go straight to Bethesda." After Abby wound down and made him promise to find the animals that did this to McGee he closed his phone. DiNozzo was still standing, staring at where the ambulance had been parked.

Gibbs walked over to the other man, careful not to startle him. DiNozzo's hands were clenched at his sides as he forcibly regulated his breathing.

"Tony?"

At first, he thought he hadn't been heard, but just as he was about to repeat himself, DiNozzo started speaking in a low tone. "He's just a kid. I know he's a trained federal agent, you don't have to remind me, but laying there he looked so young, Boss."

"I know." Gibbs reached up and squeezed Tony's shoulder. "Are you going to be able to handle this?"

A slow nod was his answer, followed by a question. "Was this a personal attack or an attack against the agency?"

It took a long time for Gibbs to respond. "I don't know, but…"

"Either way, Tim wasn't the original target, Kate was." DiNozzo finished for him. "Does she know?"

Gibbs thought back to the look on her face before she climbed into the ambulance. "Yeah, Tony, she knows."

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

Donald Mallard collected his luggage and moved toward the baggage claim exit. The overnight flight from London had been long and tiring. Customs had taken even more time than usual. All he wanted was to go home, visit with Mother, and sleep for the rest of the day. Tomorrow he was due back at the Navy Yard, but today was his last day of vacation.

His phone rang the second he turned it on, the display reading 'Abby' He smiled to himself as he answered. "Abigail, my dear, I just stepped foot back in the US of A. What could be so important that it couldn't wait until my vacation officially ends in the morning?" He listened, his expression changing from amusement to concern to alarm. "Tell Kate that I'll be right there."

---NCIS---

Once they had a team processing the clearing where McGee was found, Gibbs grabbed an evidence kit and starting following the faint trail he had seen, DiNozzo at his side. It had been weeks since the latest rain, so no footprints were visible but the broken grass stalks and occasional scuffs were enough to convince them they were on the right track. Eventually they could no longer hear the other agents who remained at the first crime scene.

The silence was unnerving; DiNozzo pulled his gun as he followed Gibbs. The other man noticed his actions and stopped, his own hand next to the butt of his Sig.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Did you see something?" Gibbs looked around, trying to see what had set his agent off.

DiNozzo looked slightly embarrassed as he reholstered his sidearm. "No, it just looked like a good place to get jumped. Sorry, Boss."

"You're no good to me out here if you're that jumpy, DiNozzo." Gibbs stopped and stared at him, trying to determine what had rattled the usually unflappable man.

Tony was forced to also stop when Gibbs blocked his path. His eyes were fixed on a spot several inches over the older man's right shoulder. Gibbs didn't say anything else and eventually DiNozzo started speaking, a nervous need to fill the silence with sound driving him to talk. "It never even occurred to me to walk Kate out to her car Friday, and when McGee called this morning all I could think about was teasing him about getting lost on his way to work. What kind of person does that make me, Boss?"

"Human, it makes you human Tony." Gibbs really didn't want to take the time right now, but he needed his senior agent to be in control and focused. "Was there any threat made to Kate or McGee at the bar Friday night?"

"No, of course not. I'd have done something about it if there had been."

"Do you consider Kate helpless?"

"No, God no."

"What abut McGee?"

"Of course not. He's still green but he's got good instincts."

"Is Guffy's in a bad part of town?"

"Hell, Boss, it's in the Naval Yard. It should have been the safest bar in town." DiNozzo hung his head. "Damn it, it should have been safe."

"Yeah, it should have been." Gibbs waited as Tony was obviously thinking. After a few seconds, the younger man looked up, horrified.

"If they damaged Kate's tire to try to get to her, then whoever it is, they have clearance to be in the Yard."

Gibbs could almost visually see DiNozzo pull himself together. "So what are we going to do about it?"

"We're gonna nail those bastards before they have another chance to get a member of our team. You coming, Boss?" Without waiting for an answer, DiNozzo continued down the path they had been following.

---NCIS---

After leaving his luggage in the doctor's lounge Ducky found Kate standing outside the cubicle that McGee was being examined in. "Caitlin, my dear, has there been any word?"

"Oh, Ducky," she wiped at her face before she turned towards him but he could still see the evidence of her tears. "He's still not breathing on his own. They have him on a ventilator. Nobody is telling me anything and they made me leave while they take x-rays."

Ducky stepped out of the way as the portable x-ray was pulled out of the room. "They will certainly talk to me. Come along, Caitlin, it's time to find out exactly has been done to young Timothy."

---NCIS---

"Boss, look." DiNozzo pointed and stared. At the end of the trail they were following was a small outbuilding that looked abandoned. The only other indication of civilization was a burned out barn in the distance.

"Yeah, I see it DiNozzo. Looks like we found our primary crime scene."

As they moved closer, Tony pulled the camera out of his pack and started snapping pictures. The outer walls of the building were weathered but intact and solid. The windows appeared to be boarded up from the inside. They circled around and found the door on the far side. The hinges and handle were heavily rusted. The only visible anomaly was a new and shiny padlock. Gibbs set the kit down and started dusting for prints.

"Got a partial." DiNozzo just grunted in reply to Gibbs, more focused on what was inside. Once Gibbs had the print lifted, he picked the lock. Flashlights and guns at the ready, they entered the building.

"Oh my God. Boss, are you seeing this?"


	3. Chapter 3

Ducky gave Kate a determined look, and then pushed the door open. They entered the emergency room together, and then separated. Kate stayed out of the way, against the wall while Ducky went straight to the doctor working on McGee. The doctor looked up, obviously annoyed at the perceived interruption.

"As I told the other agent, I'm still examining the patient. You will have to wait."

"I'm not another agent." Ducky glared at the curt man, waiting for him to look up. When he finally did, Ducky continued. "I am Dr. Donald Mallard, Chief Medical Examiner of NCIS and the primary care physician for most of our agents, including Special Agent McGee. You may be willing to make Special Agent Todd wait for your diagnosis, but the Director and the SecNav are waiting for mine and I would prefer not to keep them waiting any longer than necessary." The two men stared at one another, but Ducky had spent too many years toe to toe with Gibbs to be intimidated by this rank amateur.

The ER doctor stepped back and reached his hand out to the nurse standing next to him. Without a word she gave him the chart she had been working on. He, in turn, handed it over to Ducky as he brings the medical examiner up to speed.

"All right Dr. Mallard, I'm Dr. Turner. At the moment, the patient is still unresponsive and has no spontaneous respiration. We've found severe bruising and abrasions on his wrists and ankles and dozens of round electrical burns over his body along with extensive bruising of his torso. There are strain injuries to his shoulders, elbows and knees. He has fluid in his lungs which is complicating his respiratory issues."

"Complicating but not the primary cause?" Ducky interrupted him.

"No." He reached down and flipped through the chart in Ducky's hand until he found what he was looking for. "He's been drugged with a large dose of Rohypnol. That is what shut down his lungs."

Ducky looked at the numbers on the chart. "That's a lethal dose." Behind him, Kate gasped. She had managed to move up next to them without either of the men noticing. Ducky turned to her and explained. "Once the drug is out of his blood stream, Timothy should start breathing on his own, my dear. We just have to give him a little help until then."

"Should start breathing? Are you saying that he might not?" Special Agents do not panic, Kate reminded herself as she studied Ducky's face for his reaction. Ducky gave her a reassuring smile.

"Let's not borrow trouble, Caitlin. One problem at a time." He returned his attention to the other doctor. "What about his legs? The paralysis?"

Dr. Turner rubbed the back of his neck. "His spinal column is intact, but there is swelling pressing against the cord in the mid-back area. We won't know if the damage is permanent until the swelling goes down."

"So it may not be permanent?" Kate interrupted, clinging to that small hope after listening to the litany of injuries that had been listed for McGee. She reached out and brushed Tim's hair back from his forehead. "He could walk again?"

"It's much too early to tell, Agent Todd." Dr. Turner tried to be encouraging, but realistic. "It will be several days before the swelling is down enough to even hazard a guess. Speaking of his back, we found two puncture wounds that appear to be from a taser."

"That's how they captured him?" Kate ran through possible scenarios in her mind, imagining her friend walking to the Metro station, someone hiding in the bushes that he never saw coming. She should have insisted on driving him to the station, she decided as guilt gnawed at her.

The doctor was unaware of her growing feelings of guilt. "It would appear so. Judging from the burn marks surrounding the punctures, he was most likely incapacitated instantly. He never had a chance to defend himself."

Ducky continued to read through the chart. "What about his feet?"

"His feet…" Dr. Turner pursed his lips together as he decided what to tell them. "The ultrasound showed a great deal of soft tissue damage. We'll just have to wait and see after that heals." He could tell Dr. Mallard was experienced enough to understand the significance of the injuries to the young agent's feet as he continued to explain, for Kate's benefit. "His injuries are painful and he will have a long recovery, but there is a good chance that he could come through this with no major loss of function. It's just going to take a lot of time and support to get him there."

Kate gave a shaky nod to acknowledge his words before she asked the question she was most dreading. "Was there any sign of sexual assault?" Even Ducky blanched, waiting for the answer.

"We have the completed SAE kit ready for your forensics people to tell for sure, but I can tell you that there was no apparent biological samples collected and there was no sign of penetration."

"Thank God."

"Thank heavens."

"However," Dr. Turner continued, "there are signs of significant bruising and other trauma."

Before either of them could ask further, one of the many nurses in the small room came up to Kate with a box. It was filled with sealed bags, Kate recognized the SAE kit and McGee's clothes in several of the bags. "This is all the evidence we collected while he was being examined. His gun is also in there."

That surprised Kate. "His gun? His weapon was still with him?" She snapped on a pair of gloves before going through the bags until she found the one she was looking for.

"Yes, it was still in the holster, clipped to the back of his belt." The nurse's words confirmed why they didn't see it at the scene and also set off alarms in Kate's head.

"McGee doesn't wear his weapon at his back, he carries on the side." More alarms went off in Kate when she picked up the bag containing McGee's Sig. It was too light. She broke the seal on the evidence bag and pulled out the gun. When she released the clip it confirmed what she suspected. The clip was empty.

Ducky peered over her shoulder. "So he did fight back at some point." Kate brought the gun up to her face to examine it better. There was no residual scent of burned gunpowder.

"This gun hasn't been fired recently. Somebody took the bullets out of the clip before they put the gun back on his body."

---NCIS---

It took only a few seconds to clear the building once Gibbs picked the lock and they entered. Not another living soul was inside, but no obvious attempt had been made to clean up what had occurred here. Weapons holstered, the two agents circled the room to get a feel for what they were seeing. The walls were covered with thick sheets of builders grade foam, perfect to muffle any sounds coming from inside. Metal rings mounted to a concrete slab in the ground, along with a hook suspended from the rafters above them told Gibbs where his youngest agent had spent a great deal of the last few days. Even more chilling were the inclined board, buckets and still damp rags in the far corner that had DiNozzo's attention.

Tony didn't even try to hide his anger as they continued the search. An old workbench mounted to the far wall was scattered with items, not all of which he recognized. The leather blackjacks, the cattle prod and batons were bad enough. A tangle of straps and a metal bar caught his attention and he reached out for it.

"That's a Pau-de-Arara." Gibbs's voice broke as he came to stand next to Tony.

"I'm not sure I even want to know what they do with it."

"No, I don't think you do." Gibbs looked around; the evidence left behind was almost overwhelming and would take hours to collect and days to process. "Let's get to work." He pointed to the angled bench. "We'll start with the waterboarding equipment and work out from there."

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

It was mid-afternoon before Gibbs and DiNozzo returned to NCIS with boxes of collected evidence, leaving several more agents guarding the location. They entered a quiet lab as a tearful Abby sat staring at her computer screen.

"Abs?" Gibbs set two boxes down on the metal table before wrapping his arms around the young goth. She angrily brushed her tears away as she turned to face him.

"Who would do something like this to Timmy? He wouldn't hurt a fly, and somebody beat him, Gibbs. They beat him and they hurt him…" She dissolved into tears again, but this time she was willing to let the older man comfort her. Gibbs just held her and rode it out, knowing she had to get it out of her system before she could focus anymore on the task at hand.

Tony stood awkwardly next to them. He almost envied Abby's tears and the comfort she was receiving as part of him wanted to rant and scream at the injustice of the day. They had been at the paperwork stage of the cases they were working; absolutely nothing had indicated they should have worried when they left the squad room the Friday before. Nothing had suggested any of them were walking into danger when they went their separate ways. His head knew Gibbs was right, there was no possible way he could have predicted what had happened, but his heart hadn't caught up yet.

Abby pulled away and took a deep breath, straightening her pigtails. "Ducky had Palmer bring evidence back from the hospital, and Kate has called twice. He's in intensive care and he's still not breathing yet. They have him on a ventilator."

"Do they know why he's not breathing?"

She nodded as she answered DiNozzo. "They wanted him dead. He was given what should have been a fatal dose of Rohypnol. It depresses the respiratory system until the body no longer is capable of spontaneous respiration."

"Fatal? So they wanted him dead before he was found?"

"Looks that way, Gibbs."

Gibbs looked at the two exhausted and stressed faces in front of him, then made his decision. "Abby, the most important evidence right now are the fingerprints. Get a search running on those while I update the director, then we will all go to the hospital and see McGee for ourselves. DiNozzo, you give her a hand with them, I will be back in a few minutes."

Abby's enthusiastic hug and DiNozzo's grateful and exhausted thanks told the older man he had made the right decision as he headed up to the director's office.

---NCIS---

"He's still alive."

"How is that possible?"

"Agent McGee was able to summon help before he succumbed to the drugs. He is very stubborn and his team is very loyal."

"Should we send a clean-up team to finish the job?"

"Not yet. Let's see just how good NCIS is first."

---NCIS---

"The Director will see you now." Gibbs gave the briefest nod of recognition to the woman as he entered the office, not stopping until he was standing in front of Director Morrow's desk. Morrow finished up the phone call he was on and gave his full attention to his top field agent. "What do we know so far?"

"The last anyone saw McGee was Friday night having a late dinner with DiNozzo and Todd at Guffy's. All indications are that he was grabbed that night. He was tortured by unknown assailants until sometime this morning when he was dumped in a field in a rural area of Virginia and given enough Rohypnol to shut down his breathing. He managed to stay alive and awake long enough to call for help." Gibbs had to stop and clear his throat before continuing. "Moments after we found him, he lost consciousness and stopped breathing. He is unconscious, paralyzed, and on life support until the drugs clear his system. We found where he was held prisoner, Abby has all the evidence collected."

"Damn, poor kid. Do we have any idea what they were after, why he was targeted?"

Gibbs shook his head. "We're not even sure he was the actual target. Agent Todd discovered a flat tire on her car when she left Guffy's. McGee stayed behind to change it for her, so it is entirely possible that…"

"Someone was waiting to grab her and McGee's presence there stopped them." Tom Morrow finished for him.

"Yes, sir."

Morrow thought for a moment about how many things either McGee or Todd would have access to or knowledge of at NCIS. McGee's abilities with the computer were widely known and exploited within the agency. The rookie was just too nice to tell anyone no, even if it wasn't his team or his case. That normally was fine, but it meant that even more of the agency's activities were now at risk. He called his assistant into the office. "Notify the cybercrime unit to start going through our system. Have them look for any breech or anything out of the ordinary." Her response was instantaneous.

"They're going to ask for Agent McGee's help."

"If he was physically capable of helping, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Once you are done with them, notify all teams – if they have had any assistance from Agents McGee or Todd, the case involved may be at risk. Until we know why either of them were targeted, we have to assume the worse." Another thought occurred to him and he returned his attention to Gibbs. "I received word this morning that Homeland Security wanted your team to join forces with the CIA on an op. It's possible that is the target."

"Crap." The last thing Gibbs wanted to do on a good day was play nice with the CIA. Today was not a good day. The CIA would probably use the assault on McGee as a reason to keep NCIS out of the information loop. He didn't want anything to interfere with the hunt for McGee's assailant, but it was instinctive to complain about being cut from an operation. Before he could mount an argument to convince the director they could do both, his phone rang. He almost ignored it, but the display read 'Abby'.

"What have you got, Abs?"

"A big problem, Gibbs."

He hung his head. If her findings were a big problem in comparison to the day so far, Gibbs wasn't sure he wanted to hear it. "Abby, I'm in with the director, so I'm going to put you on speaker." Just a few seconds later Abby's voice echoed in the room.

"I got a possible match on the partial print you found on the padlock, but I got booted from the system before I could confirm it."

Director and agent shared a concerned look. "Booted by whom, Miss Sciuto?"

"By Langley, sir."

Morrow nodded to Gibbs as the director continued to question Abby. "You mean the CIA?"

"Yes, Director. Now I am completely shut out of AFIS. That's never happened before."

"Keep trying, Miss Sciuto. I'll make some calls and see who is pulling the strings." The last of his words were addressed to both Abby and Gibbs. As Gibbs disconnected the call, Morrow knew exactly where he was headed. "I'll set up a meeting with the Deputy Director of the CIA for later tonight. For now, go check on your man."

tbc...


	5. Chapter 5

The silence in Intensive Care was oppressive as the trio walked in. They joined Kate as she stood outside McGee's room, watching through the glass wall. Inside, Ducky was observing another doctor examine the still unconscious man. Tony and Abby watched the exam in silence as Gibbs asked for an update. "Kate, has he shown any signs of improvement yet?"

"No, not really." She didn't turn to look at him as she spoke. "His heart rate is a little bit more stable than it was when we got him here, but that's about it."

"His heart?"

"Yeah, Tony. They say it's from the repeated electrical shocks."

Gibbs saw the doctor run an instrument down McGee's foot with no reaction. "What about the paralysis, do they know more about what's causing it?"

Kate finally turned around to face them. Her eyes were red, but dry, Gibbs noted. "There's swelling pressing against the nerves of his spinal cord. Until the swelling starts to go down, they won't know if the damage is permanent. Right now, they are watching to make sure the paralysis doesn't spread."

Abby bit back a sob, her voice breaking. "You mean it could get worse?"

"If the swelling gets worse it will increase the pressure on his spinal cord and…"

Gibbs finished for her. "The more pressure, the greater the chances of the damage being permanent."

"Yes, and the more swelling, the more of his spine could be affected. They injected him with something to slow the swelling, but it's too soon to see if it's working."

Abby scooted over and rested her head on Kate's shoulder, the two women held hands as they watched their friend, so still in the bed. Behind them, the two men exchanged worried glances as Abby asked the question they all wanted to ask. "When's he going to wake up?"

That was the question that brought tears back to Kate's eyes. "They don't know." Trying to stay professional, she began asking questions of her own. "Did you find anything yet, do we have any suspects?"

It was Abby that explained how the CIA had cut off her attempts to identify McGee's attackers, but it was DiNozzo that asked the hard question. "Are we going after the CIA, Boss?"

"Yeah we are, Tony. First, Kate and I are going to meet with the Deputy Director and hear what cockamamie cover story they've come up with."

"You and Kate?"

Gibbs cut him off before he could get started. "Kate has more experience profiling and I need you here, guarding McGee." When he didn't see the acceptance he wanted, Gibbs continued. "Somebody at the CIA is trying to lock us out of our own evidence. The most damning evidence we have is lying in that hospital bed, helpless. I need you to make sure he stays alive." Whatever else he may have said was interrupted when Ducky and the neurologist walked out of the room.

Ducky correctly interpreted the unasked question as the three agents and one forensics specialist watched him. "He's stable and considering the shape he was in earlier today, that is a remarkable achievement."

"So he's going to be all right?"

He gave a sad smile to Abby's hopeful question. "I believe he will survive, Abigail."

The other three recognized what he wasn't saying, but it was Tony that called him on it. "There's a big difference between surviving and being all right."

---NCIS---

Gibbs and Kate had barely settled at their desks before Abby called them down to her lab. When they walked through the door, she met them clutching a VHS tape. "This just arrived; it's the surveillance tape from the parking lot at Guffy's. I've already downloaded it into the computer."

"Does it show anything?" Gibbs was ready for any kind of break in the case.

"Would I bring you down here if it didn't?" Abby smirked, even though it was with a fraction of her usual energy, as she cued up the footage they needed. The three of them watched as on the plasma screen, a two-dimensional Timothy McGee knelt in the dark, changing a flat tire. Kate smiled as she remembered how insistent he was that she not change it herself or wait for roadside assistance to arrive. She remembered the grease he got on his jacket sleeve and her promise to cover his dry cleaning costs. Now it was only a fraction of what she felt she owed him as she watched herself leave the parking lot safely. The image of McGee stood and watched her pull onto the road before he started across the empty lot in an apparent shortcut to the Metro Station. He had only made it part way when a shadow stepped out from behind some tall bushes behind him and aimed a large, hand-held weapon at him. Two prongs shot out, trailing wires behind them. They didn't need sound to recognize the young man's agony as the electricity jolted him three times before he fell to the ground, unmoving. Any possibility he was still conscious was dashed as the shadowy figure kicked him in the head before a van pulled in and he was taken away.

Gibbs closed his eyes briefly as the surveillance footage ended. There was no possible way McGee could have seen the attack coming. In a way it made it easier. If something Gibbs could have taught the younger man might have prevented his capture, he didn't think he would have ever forgiven himself. Kate saw the same results.

"God, he never stood a chance."

Gibbs pursed his lips as he shook his head, forcing himself to stay in control. It was affecting him more than he was willing to admit, seeing his youngest agent go down like that. The youngest field agent at NCIS, Gibbs had personally pulled him from his safe office in Norfolk to bring him onto his team. That brilliant mind was a perfect foil for DiNozzo's brash leaps of intuition, but would it survive the brutal events being a member of his team had brought him? "Were you able to get a clear image of the assailant or anything to identify the van?"

"No, nothing. The best I can do is to figure out how tall the guy is, but that's about it. They knew where the camera was."

"I need a copy of that burned and printouts of the pictures of McGee's injuries, Abs. We need to take them with us to the CIA."

Abby pressed the necessary buttons on the computer. No one commented on the fact that she was pointedly not looking at the pages as they came out of the printer. "You really think they did this to Timmy? What is your gut telling you, Gibbs?"

When she turned to look at him, he gave her the only answer he could. "I think our week is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better."

---NCIS---

.

The badge and some sweet talking got DiNozzo unlimited access to McGee's room in the intensive care wing. Anyone walking by would assume he was dozing waiting for his friend to wake up. Anyone, that is, who did not know the brash agent. Those who knew him knew that he was alert and aware behind the half closed lids. Unfortunately, the one here who knew him was in no position to acknowledge that fact, so Tony waited and prayed. He may not have been able to help his probie before, but if another attempt was made now, there wouldn't be enough of the perp left for Ducky to waste a table on – and he wouldn't need Abby's forensic help to do it. Shifting slightly as morbid thoughts threatened to overwhelm him, he began speaking to his friend lying still in the bed. He carried on both sides of a debate as too which James Bond was better, Sean Connery or Roger Moore. Something caught his attention and he stopped, mid-sentence as the EKG machine registered first an increased heart rate, then an uneven one before the alarms went off. Unable to help, Tony found himself back in the hallway as the room filled with medical personnel.

---NCIS---


	6. Chapter 6

"Senior Special Agent Gibbs and Special Agent Todd to see you sir." The assistant's voice was cool and clipped as she escorted them into the inner sanctum of the CIA. Deputy Director Hayes seemed almost amused to see them. He swept his hand towards the chairs in front of his desk. Agent Todd sat down, Gibbs stood at parade rest behind her.

"I gathered from Tom that you object to our interviewing Agent McGee without your permission?"

So that was how they were going to play the game. Gibbs leaned forward slightly as he parried, putting a slight emphasis on the titles. "Director Morrow, I'm sure, gave you more than our objections, Deputy Director."

The smug man didn't rise to the bait. "It's no secret that NCIS is the bottom of the ARMFED food chain, after all look at some of the agents you end up with." He pointedly looked at Kate. "Some of us do have standards, Agent Gibbs. You can't fault us for being concerned when we're forced to combine resources."

Gibbs laid a warning hand on Kate's shoulder. Seething, she stayed quiet at he responded. "If you have 'concerns' about one of my people, then you come to me about it. I can answer any questions you have about any of my agents."

"Homeland Security feels there may be a Navy connection with a case we have been working on for over a year. We needed to know if your agents could handle working with such sensitive materials. Of course we interviewed Agent McGee, as we plan on interviewing all of the agents who will have access to our files."

"Interviewed? Is that what you call it nowadays?" Gibbs moved to the side of Kate so he could step forward and lean across the desk. "If you even think about interviewing another one of my people…"

"If Agent McGee feels we were too hard on him…"

Kate couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Agent McGee doesn't feel anything right now. Right now he is in the hospital on life support as a result of your little interview."

Hayes sat up straight. Gibbs noted a line of sweat suddenly appear across his top lip. "That is not possible. How dare you accuse my agents of any wrongdoing?"

Rather than answer, Gibbs tossed the photos on the desk. They spread as they landed, giving graphic testament to what McGee had endured. In stark contrast to the photos, the DVD of the security footage was carefully laid on top. "We're just getting started and when I'm done, we won't be accusing, we'll be proving. Have a nice evening, Deputy Director." He moved to the door, Kate at his heels. Gibbs turned back as they exited the office. "For some reason, our lab is having trouble connecting with the AFIS databank. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" He wasn't expecting an answer, but he waited anyways. When the man refused to look him in the eye, that was his answer. "We'll be in touch."

---NCIS---

DiNozzo paced outside the room as doctors continued to work on McGee. His attempts to call Gibbs and Kate had been sent directly to voicemail. He couldn't bring himself to call Abby so instead he called Ducky. The medical examiner arrived just as a nurse pushed the crash cart back out of McGee's room. Tony gave him a grateful look and Ducky swept into the room, cornering the doctor who had answered the alarm. After a short conversation, Ducky waved Tony into the room. The doctor wasted no time explaining what had just happened.

"Agent McGee is starting to fight the vent. Normally, that is a very good sign, but he is still very weak and his heart can't stand much strain."

Tony looked back and forth between the two doctors, one he knew, one he was blindly counting on. "So what now? Do you sedate him until his heart is stronger?"

Ducky shook his head. "No, as much as that would ease the situation with his heart, we don't dare depress his neurological functions any further."

"So what do we do?"

"We talk to him, Tony." Ducky gave the other man a hard look. He was definitely frayed around the edges, but the steely determination that was pure DiNozzo was there underneath the stress. "He is not actually conscious yet, but there is more awareness than there was earlier. We need to keep him calm as the rest of the drugs are purged from his system." He smiled as he continued. "I'm sure between the two of us, we can keep him calm with a story or two."

---NCIS---

Out of the corner of his eye, Gibbs watched Kate as he drove back to the hospital. She had been muttering under her breath ever since they left the CIA. He only caught a few of the words and realized two things. One, he had vastly underestimated her vocabulary and two, that vocabulary was going to send her to confessional the next time she went to church. Finally, when they were less than a mile from the hospital, he broke into her litany. "Impressions?"

"He's an arrogant SOB with delusions of grandeur."

Gibbs allowed himself a moment of pride at her spunk before he clarified his question. "About the case."

"Oh." Kate blushed slightly but didn't seem to back down. "Deputy Director Hayes isn't as in control of his agency as he'd like us to believe. I'd almost think he's scared of his own people."

"Yeah, I noticed that." Gibbs bypassed the parking lot at the hospital and pulled up to the entrance. Kate called him on it.

"Gibbs, we can't park here." He didn't answer her, he just waved her off as he was already on the phone to someone.

"I need to see you right now. Usual place, thirty minutes."

She didn't like the sound of that. "Shouldn't you have back-up?"

"Not this time. Go check on McGee; keep Tony company." She had barely closed the door behind her before he pulled out, tires squealing.

tbc...


	7. Chapter 7

a/n - This is a short chapter, but it's where it needed to break. Next two chapters are done and things will be heating up. Thanks for all the wonderful comments.

"Kate, Katie!" Hearing her name stopped Kate before she got on the elevator. Looking around, she saw Abby rushing towards her. They hugged and settled in to wait for the next elevator. "Did you guys give the CIA the what for?"

"Well, it was interesting, I'll say that. We're not going to get any straight answers on that front. Gibbs is up to something, though." Kate tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Abby's returning smile also looked forced, but she didn't call the other woman on it.

They arrived in ICU to find both Tony and Ducky standing outside McGee's room. Alarmed, they both rushed the men.

"What happened?"

"Is he worse?"

Ducky grabbed Abby's hands, stalling her panic, as he brought them both up to speed. After they understood the significance and the dangers Tim faced in the next few hours it was decided to let the two women visit first. Once Abby and Kate had seen their friend they would need to return to the Navy Yard to continue the hunt for McGee's attackers.

---NCIS---

.

"Jethro." Tobias Fornell leaned back on the park bench and waited, observing as the other agent came closer. There was a look on his face that Fornell had rarely seen and told him that his day was about to get a whole lot worse.

He didn't beat around the bush. "Tobias, I need your help." When the other agent did not interrupt, he continued. "One of my men was kidnapped and tortured over the weekend. He's in the hospital, on life support."

"My God, who?" This was worse than he had ever thought possible. Tobias took a good look at Gibbs and saw a haunted exhaustion he had never seen before.

Gibbs rubbed at suddenly burning eyes. "Timothy McGee, my… my rookie."

"Ah, crap." Fornell closed his eyes as he thought about it. Of the agents he dealt with at NCIS, he had a soft spot for the youngest one. Quiet, unassuming and brilliant, he had all the earmarks of a top agent in the making and to be honest he envied Gibbs for his role in the young man's future. "Terrorists?" He opened his eyes and watched for the reaction. He wasn't sure how to describe the look on Gibbs' face.

"No, closer to home." He waited for Fornell to make the connection. It didn't take long.

"Our own? Damn it to hell, what have you guys gotten yourselves into, Gibbs?"

"I don't know. Whatever the op was, it wasn't supposed to start before now. Hayes claims they were 'interviewing' McGee to make sure he was up to their standards, whatever the hell that means."

"Hayes? CIA?" Fornell gave him a hard look. "You're saying one of his guys got too rough with the kid?"

"Rough? You think I'm angry because they got a little rough with him?" Gibbs stood and leaned into Fornell's face. "Rough would be slapping him around. Rough would be keeping him in an interrogation room for hours at a time. Since when does an interview entail an inclined bench and a five gallon bucket?" He pulled out the photos that he hadn't tossed on the desk at the CIA. Photos that were too graphic and personal to hand over to a stranger. Fornell silently looked through them, becoming paler with each image.

When Fornell finally handed the pictures back to Gibbs, he sat back on the bench next to Fornell, spent and shaking, his tone flat and low. "He's paralyzed, Tobias. He's paralyzed and they don't know if it's permanent or not. They beat him and tortured him and then when they were done they dumped him in the middle of a field and pumped him full of Rohypnol."

"To make him forget?"

"No, to make him stop breathing. It was a lethal dose, Tobias. He wasn't supposed to survive." For one of the few times in his life, Tobias Fornell was speechless. In the silence, Gibbs continued. "They redressed him, right down to putting his phone back in his pocket. He called me, Tobias. I stayed on the phone with him while we searched. He fought so damn hard to stay alive, so damn hard." He turned to Fornell. "Now it's my turn to fight for him."

"What do you want me to do?"

Carefully, quietly, and methodically Gibbs outlined his plan.

tbc...


	8. Chapter 8

Dawn was just starting to break when Gibbs entered the squad room. He tossed his coat in the direction of his desk and headed down to the lab. He wasn't surprised to see Abby already at work and only mildly surprised to see DiNozzo hunched over a computer screen. Finding Ducky and Palmer at computer stations in the lab was a bit more of a surprise. The agent from Balboa's team that was supposed to be on vacation was the real shocker, however. Abby spotted him before he could tell what they were all working on and rushed over to hug him.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, I still can't get into AFIS. How can they do that to us? We're supposed to be on the same side."

"I know, Abby. The Director is working on it, and I've called in some favors. What is all this?" He swept his hand around the lab as Abby pulled him to her computer station.

"Tony had the most brilliant idea." The man in question looked up briefly before returning to his task. "He decided to pull all the video from every camera between Guffy's and where you found McGee. Maybe we can get a better shot of the van or the driver."

That explained why DiNozzo was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. "That's great, good thinking, Tony." He next turned to the less familiar man in the lab. "Andrews, aren't you supposed to be at your wife's family reunion?"

The tall man with the cocoa skin and quick smile didn't even look up from his monitor as he answered. "This was more important, Gibbs. McGee's a good kid and sure as hell didn't deserve this. Beth understands; she met him when he came over to help me set up my home computer network." Changing tapes, he finally looked up. "Balboa is at the hospital with Agent Todd. Carter and Hopper are out collecting the rest of the security tapes."

Gibbs was stunned. "We appreciate the help. I hope the Director didn't pull your team off anything pressing."

"The Director didn't ask, we volunteered. Everybody here really likes the kid. The team from the Pentagon will be here later to help go through the video too."

Now more than stunned, Gibbs watched them work. Bottom of the ARMFED food chain? He'd take these agents over those from any other agency any day of the week. Before he could come up with the words to express his gratitude, the lab door slid open. Gibbs vaguely recognized the woman as someone in accounting as she walked in with a tray of coffees and a large Caf-pow. As she handed out the drinks she passed on a message. "I just spoke to Agent Todd. Tim had an uneventful night and the doctors hope that he will start to regain consciousness later today."

After she left, Abby explained the connection. "That's Connie from the financial department. Tim wrote them a whole new database program. Apparently it saves them a ton of time and now he is their hero."

Gibbs shook his head. McGee didn't have a clue how much of an impact he had had on the agency in the few short months he had been at headquarters. Fresh coffee in hand, he stepped closer to the table piled high with evidence bags. "Show me what you've got so far, Abs."

"Well," she leaned over and picked up an evidence bag from her personal work table and handed it to Gibbs. It contained a coil of insulated wires and two thin metal spikes. "This nasty little bugger is from an Advanced M26 Taser, complete with ten point six meters of insulated conductive wires. It's nitrogen fired and only sold to state and federal law enforcement agencies. Do you see the damage to the wires near the probes, Gibbs?" She held them up to the light so he could see what she was pointing to. The coating appeared to be melted in several spots.

Abby knew he had seen what she was pointing to, so she didn't wait for an acknowledgement before continuing. "To burn through the coating like that, it had to be activated for a really long time, Gibbs, a really, really long time."

Gibbs let out a long breath. "Can we prove this was used on McGee?"

"There was blood and DNA on the tips. It's a match." She paused, looking around at all the evidence she had processed since McGee had been found. "Everything had his DNA on it Gibbs. They didn't even try to clean up. Why…"

"Arrogance, stupidity, who knows, at least when we catch them, we'll have the evidence to take them down." Anything else he had to say was interrupted by his phone.

"Gibbs." He listened and then smiled broadly, his first real smile since this nightmare had begun. "I'll bring the coffee."

Tony called out to him as he turned to leave. "Boss?" His only answer was a wave as the older man left. Concerned, but not surprised, he started working on the next tape in his stack.

---NCIS---

Gibbs climbed into the black sedan and handed the driver a cup. The driver took a drink, sighing as he did while the other man smirked. "Looks like you needed that."

"God, you have no idea, Jethro." He handed over a large file. "We got ID's on all of them, the locations I'll leave up to you." Gibbs flipped through the papers.

"This isn't going to come back on your technician, is it?"

Fornell took another long draw on his coffee. "Nah, she's in the clear. My name is on the search. If the heat comes down too bad, I'll just tell them you bullied me into it."

"Tobias…"

"No. Don't apologize, and don't thank me. If those bastards get away with this, then who's next? I'm doing this for my people just as much as for yours. You work on nailing them, I'll have the rest of what you asked for as soon as possible."

Gibbs nodded as he climbed back out of the car. There really wasn't anything else to say.

---NCIS---

Kate watched as Tim's eyes moved rapidly under closed lids. This time the movement continued past the few seconds that had been the pattern for most of the morning. She leaned forward, resting her hand on his forehead.

"McGee? Tim, can you hear me? It's Kate, you're in a hospital but you're going to be just fine. "You have a tube in your throat to help you breathe. Don't fight it, just let the machine do the work for you. You're going to be fine." As she repeated herself over and over, Balboa stepped out to notify the nursing staff. Once they were alerted he called for Ducky, knowing that the older man would need to be here when McGee fully regained awareness. Judging from the sounds in the background, that call saved him the bother of notifying the rest of McGee's team. After grabbing one more cup of terrible hospital coffee, he watched through the glass as a doctor bent down and disconnected the tube. The mood in the room was tense, then jubilant as the battered man took his first unassisted breath in over twenty-two hours. Kate looked up at him through the glass and smiled. He smiled back and opened his phone back up. Now he could make the phone call he really wanted to make.

"Gibbs, your boy is breathing." He'd never tell another living soul how shaky the returned 'thank God' had sounded.

---NCIS---

"What if they figure it out?"

"Don't worry so much."

"You've got a plan?"

"Don't I always?"

"So is he going to take the fall?"

"Oh, yeah, he's going to take the fall. I always knew his little obsession would come in handy."

tbc...


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey Tim, welcome back." Kate blinked back tears as McGee stared at her. "You gave us quite a scare." He blinked slowly before trying to speak; she had to lean close to hear him.

"What happened to me?"

Kate wasn't sure how much to tell him. "You were hurt, but you're going to be fine, just rest now, okay?" He wasn't calming down, so she tried another tactic. "What's the last thing you remember?"

His brows crinkled as he thought back. "Tony was flirting with… with a waitress."

That made Kate smile. Tony had almost ended up with a lap full of hot coffee before he had taken the hint that she wasn't interested. "Yeah, she threatened his manhood." Still unsure, she tried to keep her words vague. "You got hurt on your way home, but you're going to be fine."

Unfortunately, the more she told him that he was going to be fine, the more concerned he became. "On my way home? Did I have an accident?" Alarmed, he tried to sit up and was promptly stopped by both the pain and Kate's hands on his chest. She watched the heart monitor as it picked up an increasing and unstable rhythm.

"Tim, you have to stay calm." The tone of her voice caught his attention and he turned his head to see what she was watching. He immediately recognized the abnormality being recorded. He closed his eyes and took a few slow measured breaths. Within seconds it showed on the monitor as his heart rate stabilized. Without opening his eyes he again asked his question.

"What happened, did I hurt somebody? Is that why you won't tell me?" He opened his eyes as he asked the last question, trying to gauge her reaction.

"No, oh Tim, no. You were hurt because of me. It's my fault." Kate bit back a sob as she stared at her teammate. He didn't respond, just waited for her to continue. "They tried to kidnap me after dinner that night and grabbed you instead. I'm sorry, Tim, I'm so, so sorry." Behind them, unnoticed, Ducky entered the room.

"What did they do to me, Kate? Why can't I feel my legs? Why don't I remember?" McGee's heart rate increased along with his alarm, Kate's guilt-fueled confessions not helping the situation.

"Oh God, Tim, everything they were going to do to me, they did to you." She was crying openly now. "I'm sorry, God, it's all my fault."

Ducky moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her while watching Tim's reaction. "Now, now my dear, it's not your fault. The only ones to blame are the monsters that did this. It's time for you to take a break and let me check on young Timothy here." Not giving her a chance to object, Ducky lifted her out of the chair and walked her to the door. Balboa met them, but she waved both he and Ducky off and disappeared into the restroom down the hall. Ducky gave a nod to Balboa before closing the door and returning to McGee's bedside. One of the nurses came closer but allowed the Medical Examiner to handle the situation.

"What were they were going to do to Kate? I can't feel below my waist Ducky. Did they, was I… "

In his years with the agency Donald Mallard had seen enough depravity to understand the unasked questions. "There is some bruising of your lower abdomen, but you were not raped, Timothy. All of your body parts are still attached and with time you should make an excellent recovery." He rested his hand on McGee's shoulder and watched the young man forcibly calm himself. Once McGee was again breathing normally and his heart rate was back in an acceptable range he began explaining his injuries and the steps his recovery would take. He was certainly not an expert in regards to the newest agent on Team Gibbs, but he knew the man was a scientist and as such needed the facts he was facing. After the basic facts had been laid out, Ducky switched to storytelling as he regaled McGee with positive stories of other recoveries he had witnessed. Eventually exhaustion overcame worry and McGee slipped into what Ducky hoped was a healing sleep. He quietly stepped out to sit next to Kate in the waiting area.

Kate didn't say anything as Ducky settled in next to her. He watched her while she twisted her fingers together in her lap. Knowing it was coming, she still jumped when he spoke. "Caitlin, my dear, Tim has a terrible journey ahead of him as he recovers." She nodded, not looking up. "He can't carry the burden of your guilt along the way."

"What? Oh Ducky, no." Kate started to argue before remembering the look on McGee's face as she had tried to apologize. She covered her mouth with her still tangled fingers and nodded her compliance as the tears she had been fighting all along finally won. She only allowed herself a few moments to cry before straightening her back and wiping her face. "So, how do we help him get through this?"

Ducky wasn't sure she was truly ready to let go of her feelings, but it wasn't the time or place to call her on it.

---NCIS---

Gibbs had only stayed in the squad room long enough to lock the file from Fornell in his desk before going to the lab. Abby and the rest of the gang were jubilant that McGee was showing signs of regaining consciousness. When he was able to add in the news that not only was their friend awake but now breathing on his own, they were ecstatic. Director Morrow arrived and was told the news. He seemed genuinely pleased that their young agent was taking his first steps towards recovery, but Gibbs knew the man well enough to see that something else was going on.

"Director?"

Morrow shook his head once before telling them about the phone call he had just received. "Deputy Director Hayes has identified Agent McGee's attacker and is waiting for you to question him."

"One attacker?" Gibbs glanced around, not sure how secure the lab was for the discussion he needed to have with his boss. Morrow seemed to understand his hesitation as did Tony who clamped his hand over Abby's mouth before she could say anything. Gibbs stared at Abby as he continued to speak until he knew she understood. "Tony and I will go pick him up then." The two men followed Morrow out of the lab and into the elevator. Gibbs picked up the battery powered tape player Abby kept on a shelf as he passed. Once inside the elevator he hit the emergency stop button and Tony turned on the heavy metal music on the tape. Wincing at her choice of music, Tony turned to Gibbs.

"Do they think we're that stupid? What are we going to do about it?"

"We're going to let them play their hand." Gibbs looked at the other occupants of the elevator. "They have no idea what we know so far, so let's see if we can trip them up."

"So, you were able to circumvent their attempts to stop your investigation?"

Gibbs thought for a moment about the Director's question. "Sir, it might be better if you didn't know the details. That way it gives you plausible deniability."

"Nope, not going to play it that way, Agent Gibbs. Those bastards went after one of our boys. It's time to teach them a lesson."

"Sir, are you sure? This could possibly ruin your career."

Tony stood between them, looking back and forth as they debated the options. Morrow gave a smile that reminded him more of a cagey spy than a pencil pusher.

"If I walk away and let them get away with this, then my career isn't worth a damn anyways. Tell me what you have." He leaned against the steel wall and waited.

Gibbs gave the older man a calculating look before he spoke, but was apparently satisfied with what he saw. "The FBI was able to get an ID on the fingerprints we lifted from the scene. We definitely have more than one suspect. I should have the details about this mystery op they were trying to block us from soon."

"So they are handing us the sacrificial lamb and hoping we'll be satisfied?"

Gibbs agreed. "It looks that way, sir."

"Well, with any luck, he will lead us to the rest of the flock. Take them down, Agent Gibbs, take them down hard." He turned towards the front of the elevator, effectively ending the conversation.


	10. Chapter 10

Deputy Director Hayes looked more in control than he had when Gibbs had last seen him, but not by much. He was a politician, not someone with the background of a field operative and Gibbs planned on using that to his advantage. For now, he let the man think he had the upper hand. He took the offered seat, as DiNozzo stood behind him.

"Thank you for coming, Agent Gibbs. I'm sure we all want this unpleasantness behind us. We looked into the matter and discovered one of our agents had developed a rather unhealthy interest in your Agent Todd. He's confessed to planning the abduction of Agent Todd and of actually kidnapping Agent McGee in anger when Agent Todd eluded him."

Gibbs never moved. "His name?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"His name. When we take him into custody, I'd rather not call him 'hey you'."

"He's confessed, he's agreed to plead guilty, why should he be in your custody rather than ours?"

The sweat was back on the other man's lip, Gibbs noted as he leaned forward. "He should be in our custody because it was our man he kidnapped, our man he attacked, our man that is lying paralyzed in a hospital bed. Our director is looking forward to seeing him sitting in one of our interrogation rooms before he leaves for his lunch at the White House, so we are in a bit of a hurry." The threat was as clear as it was unspoken.

The former cop blinked as the Deputy Director placed the call transferring custody of one Matthew Albert Dickerson to NCIS. Tony promised himself that he'd never, ever play poker against Gibbs.

---NCIS---

Gibbs sat across from Matthew Dickerson in Interrogation Room One. They had been in there for over thirty minutes without Gibbs uttering a sound. Dickerson had not been as silent, but so far had not said any recognizable words, not even to complain about being handcuffed to the table. His twitchiness was getting on Tony's nerves as he watched from the observation room. Even the AV tech was getting restless, waiting for something to happen. When there was a sound, it wasn't from the interrogation room, but from the door to the observation room opening. DiNozzo jumped, but covered it up by spinning towards the door. Kate stood there, chewing on her lip before she came all the way in.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were with the Probie." He watched as she moved closer to the two-way mirror, still chewing on her lip.

Kate shook her head. "Balboa, Ducky and Abby are with him. Was it really about me? Did he do those awful things to Tim just because he couldn't get to me?" She finally turned to Tony, expecting answers. Answers that, unfortunately, he couldn't give in front of the technician.

"I'm sorry." Even as he said the words, he knew how she would interpret them but he couldn't help himself. Beyond the glass Gibbs finally moved, making it even worse as he took a photo out of his pocket and laid it on the table between them. Even from the observation room it was plainly clear it was a picture of Kate. Dickerson picked it up and started running his fingers over it. Kate rushed out of the room without a word. Tony started to go after her, but Gibbs finally started talking, freezing DiNozzo in his tracks. There was an insinuating tone in his voice Tony had never heard before.

"So you like our Katie? Wanted to spend some quality time with her?" Gibbs reached out and took back the photo, leaving it just out of reach of the handcuffed man. Dickerson still didn't say anything. Gibbs kept his fingertips on the picture as he continued to bait him. "I hear you had a special evening planned for the two of you. Jest you, her, and a couple of cattle prods."

That made Dickerson look up. "I wasn't going to hurt her, I love her."

Gibbs gave a snort. "Right, we always torture the ones we love."

"No, no, it wasn't like that at all." As Dickerson spoke, Gibbs leaned forward, now he had the man moving in the direction he wanted. When they started to justify their actions was when they always slipped up.

"So you were just going to show her a good time? What about your buddies? Were they just wanting to show her a good time too?"

Dickerson tried to reach for the photo again, but Gibbs kept it just out of reach. "No, I wouldn't have let anyone hurt her."

"But you let them hurt McGee, why?" Dickerson didn't answer, but kept reaching for the picture. Gibbs kept at him. "Why? Why hurt McGee? Why did the CIA go after our people?"

Gibbs immediately noticed the difference in body language as Dickerson clenched his hands and shook his head so he increased the pressure. "They set you up to be the fall guy, didn't they? We have enough evidence to prove everyone that was there; just tell us who was in charge."

"I can't."

"You'll go to prison for the rest of your life if you don't tell us."

The now ex-CIA agent looked up, fear obvious on his face. "They'll do worse than you can ever do to me."

Gibbs stood and kicked his chair across the small room before bending down to whisper in Dickerson's ear. "Don't be too sure about that." He slammed his hands down on the table, making the other man jump before leaving the room. Dickerson sat, handcuffed to the table, the photo just out of his reach.

Tony didn't turn around as Gibbs entered the observation room. "Now what, Boss?"

"Now we let him stew for a while."

"He's CIA, are you sure he's gonna break?" Gibbs looked almost pleased when he answered.

"Oh, he'll break."

---NCIS---

Gibbs went straight from headquarters to the hospital. Standing outside McGee's room he got a status report from Agent Sykes from the Pentagon team. He agreed with the man, Agent Todd was too tired and stressed to continue at this pace. What Sykes didn't know, and what Gibbs wasn't about to tell a near stranger, what was truly driving her dedication. The conversation he needed to have with her required both patience and coffee, neither of which he had much of at the moment. The patience he could drag out of his reserves. The coffee required a detour to the waiting room.

Numb from hours of security videos and still unsettled from watching Dickerson's interrogation, Tony finally made his way to the hospital. This would be his first time there since McGee had regained consciousness. With a silent nod, he acknowledged the agent outside the hospital room and quietly went inside. Kate was standing next to the bed, wiping McGee's face with a damp rag while a nurse was hanging a small IV and attaching it to the line already going into his arm.

"What's wrong?"

He didn't like the look on Kate's face, but it was the nurse that answered. "Agent McGee is developing pneumonia. It's not unexpected under the circumstances and we've caught it early." She leaned across the bed and touched Kate's arm. "I'll be back later to check on him. You should really get some rest."

Tony waited until the nurse left before coming up next to the bed and studying his young partner. In addition to the bruises and visible injuries he had already seen there was now an unhealthy sheen of sweat on his skin. His eyes were sunken with even darker shadows underneath them than had been there only a few hours ago.

"He didn't need this on top of everything else." Kate's tone was sharp and Tony directed his focus to her. She looked even more exhausted than McGee and the hand holding the cloth was shaking. Making a decision, he reached out and plucked the cloth out of her hand.

"Time to go home, Kate."

She looked frantic at the thought of leaving. "What? No, Tony, I can't." Kate tried to retake the cloth now in his hand but when she reached out, Tony grabbed her hand instead.

"McGee's not going to get better overnight, Kate. We need to pace ourselves. Besides, you got to be here when he woke up." There was something in his tone that made her really look at him. He looked raw and vulnerable and something else she couldn't identify as he continued. "Tonight's my turn, okay?"

"Okay." She wanted a better look at him, but he was already turned back to watch McGee. "You'll call if something happens?"

"Yeah." Tony watched Kate gather her things and walk out the door. She spoke to the agent in the hallway briefly before leaving in the elevator. After the door slid shut behind her, he looked down to see two tired green eyes staring back at him.

"Hey, you're awake." Now that they were alone, he could really study the other man and again didn't like what he was seeing. "You look like crap, Probie."

"Kate gone?"

Tony rewet the cloth and started to wipe down McGee's face. "I sent her home, thought we could have a boys night, how does that sound?" He tried to sound cheerful and upbeat but knew he was failing miserably. McGee didn't call him on it; instead he was still focused on Kate.

"Is she all right, she acts like what happened to me is her fault, somehow."

Tony hated it when the kid looked at him like this. Under the pain and the fever and the confusion was such a need for the truth that Tony couldn't lie to him. "After dinner Friday night you changed a flat tire for Kate. They kidnapped you right after that."

"They were after her?"

Again, questions that were unsafe to answer in such an unsecured room. The best DiNozzo could do was be vague as he wrapped his hand around McGee's. "Maybe. We don't know, but Kate has convinced herself that they were."

"What they did, better me than her." McGee's voice was no more than a whisper and for a second, Tony wasn't sure he'd heard correctly.

"Do you remember anything?" Everyone had assumed the Rohypnol had erased Tim's memory and he mentally kicked himself for never asking. "Anything at all about what happened?"

He was obviously sliding into a medicated slumber. "Not really… just… keep having nightmares about drowning… and burning… how can you burn… and drown at the… at the same time… hurt so bad, Tony… don't let them… please, Tony…"

"I won't, kid. I won't let them hurt you again." Tony kept murmuring reassurances until the younger man gave into his exhaustion. He didn't even realize he was crying until he felt a teardrop land on the hand he had around Tim's. DiNozzo watched the droplet slide down the length of his finger before dropping down onto Tim's thumb. Acting more on instinct than conscious thought he took his own thumb and rubbed the moisture away. He looked up to see Gibbs standing at the foot of McGee's bed. At first he was mortified to have his boss see him crying, but then he saw the light reflecting off the moisture on the other man's face.

---NCIS---


	11. Chapter 11

**a/n - Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, they are all appreciated and cherished. I'm still plugging away on this, but I am not sure how often I will be able to post over the holidays as I will be out of town for part of the weekend . Don't panic if I miss a day of posting, I'm still writing this and the next story too. Have a great weekend everybody.**

**---NCIS---**

Tom Morrow arrived in the morning with the changing of the guards. Sykes was replaced with a member of Balboa's team in a schedule prepared by Morrow personally. He knew that a member of Gibbs' team would always be with the young man, but he wanted them to concentrate on his recovery first and foremost. After a report from Sykes about the evening's events he entered McGee's hospital room.

"Has his fever broken yet?" As he asked, he used the opportunity to study the two agents seated next to the bed. They'd obviously been there all night, awake. Gibbs answered him, rubbing the sides of his face as he spoke.

"No sir, it hasn't. So far they've been able to keep it under control, though. The last thing he needs right now is a seizure." Gibbs picked up his empty coffee cup and glared at it.

"It's that bad?"

Gibbs nodded but didn't say anything. Morrow could read what wasn't being said in his expression and changed the topic. "Has he talked about what happened to him? I understand that he probably won't ever remember details, but how is his mental state about the whole situation?"

Silent up to now, DiNozzo gave a barking laugh. "The damn kid is holding it together better than we are, sir." Gibbs didn't dispute him which set up warning flares in Morrow's mind and he made a decision.

"Go home, gentlemen." When they started to object he raised his hand. "This is not open to discussion. Go home, get some rest and get cleaned up. Meet me in my office at noon. We'll review the situation over lunch. I don't want to see either one of you near the case or this hospital until then. Is that understood?" His voice softened as he picked up their coats and handed them over. "You're both going to need your wits about you if we're going to take on the CIA. Dr. Mallard will be here soon as will Miss Sciuto. I'll stay here with him until they arrive."

At first Gibbs was going to object until he saw the look on the Director's face. Even though he didn't get personally involved with the agents in his department, he obviously cared a great deal about his people and that included the sleeping figure in the bed. Once Gibbs and DiNozzo were safely on the elevator Morrow settled into one of the chairs as a nurse came in to examine McGee. Her ministrations woke the man as he knew it would and as soon as she left, he moved to the edge of the bed.

"Good morning, son, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine sir." He was anything but fine, that was evident to even a blind man. Tom Morrow wasn't blind and he wasn't a fool, but he respected the courage of the answer he was given.

"Not yet, son, but you will be." He kept his rebuke gentle, making sure his words and actions did nothing to further traumatize the youngest agent in his agency. The flicker of the eyes showed that his point had been made. Morrow leaned close, finding the least bruised spot on McGee's arm to rest his hand. "You don't have to be strong right now."

"But my team…"

"Your team," Morrow finished for him, "needs to be needed. You may have been the only one attacked, but you were not the only victim, Timothy." The arrival of Ducky and Abby stopped anything else he might have said, but he was confident his point had been understood.

"Hello Director Morrow, I didn't expect to see you here this morning." Ducky stopped to shake the man's hand while Abby just smiled at him as she walked straight to the bed. After Dr. Mallard gave his assurances to keep the other man apprised of any changes in Agent McGee's condition, Morrow stepped out into the corridor. He turned back and watched the three people left in the room. Miss Sciuto was chatting happily at her injured friend while Dr. Mallard was reviewing his file and giving him a cursory exam. The third member of the group made brief eye contact with the Director with a slight nod and then returned his fading attention to his friends. As he continued to watch, McGee obviously lost the battle to stay awake and Abby stopped talking, instead she brushed his hair back and gently kissed his forehead.

---NCIS---

Lunch for four arrived in the Director's office at quarter to the hour. Not surprisingly, the three members of Gibbs' team were in his outer office already and his assistant shooed them in behind the delivery person.. Gibbs, DiNozzo and Todd followed him to the conference table where the food was being laid out. Once seated, Morrow began to eat and reminded the three agents to eat while the food was hot. He was sure they wouldn't stay and eat if they knew what he had for them, so he waited until they were most of the way through with lunch before tossing a folder on the table next to Gibbs. Gibbs didn't waste any time opening it. Flipping through the pages, he turned to the Director, stunned.

"Do I even want to know how you got this information?"

"Probably not. Let's just say I called in a few favors and leave it at that."

Lunch forgotten, Gibbs started on the first page again, this time more carefully. DiNozzo and Todd were each leaning over one of his shoulders, reading along with him. Kate was the first to speak. "This actually makes sense. Hayes is a political appointee with no field training or experience."

"So?" DiNozzo had not been present for the first meeting with the Deputy Director and was unaware of her assessment of the man. Realizing this, and also for the Director's benefit, she elaborated. "Hayes talked about Tim's ordeal as an interview. When we showed him pictures of his injuries he was…" she paused as she tried to find the right words. "My impression was that he really didn't understand what his agency was truly capable of doing to someone. Deep down he's frightened by his own people."

"Wait, wait, really?" DiNozzo looked between the other three people at the table. Morrow looked grim and Gibbs was nodding in agreement to Kate's assessment. He tried to wrap his mind around the possibilities, using Gibbs' words to Morrow the day before. "So, it is plausible deniability or is he the patsy for somebody else in the food chain?"

Morrow was the one to answer him. "That's what we need to find out." He pointed to the file. "Follow the money. My contact marked a few expenses that caught his attention. I'd suggest you start with those." He picked up a basket of rolls. "Hayes won't be back in his office for another three hours, so eat." They all took a roll, the three men chuckling as Kate aggressively ripped hers in half. She looked at them in confusion.

"What?" Armed agents or not, none of them were brave enough to answer her.

---NCIS---

They arrived at the CIA office to find that Hayes had not yet returned. Gibbs politely but firmly insisted that his assistant inform him that they were there and waiting. They then settled into his outer office, picking up various items and looking around pointedly. Smirking slightly, Deputy Director Hayes' assistant made the requested phone call and then led them into the inner office only moments after he arrived back to the building. Thanks to their own Director's carefully pulled strings, they knew he had been at a nearby hotel with his mistress. "This had better be important, Gibbs. I was at a high level security conference that you interrupted."

Gibbs smothered a laugh as he looked at his other agents. DiNozzo was grinning broadly and Agent Todd was studying the ceiling. "Is that what you call it nowadays?"

Annoyed and unsettled by the arrival and innuendoes, Hayes glared at them. "What the hell do you want, Gibbs? We already handed over Dickerson. The matter is settled."

"Settled? We haven't even gotten started." Gibbs leaned forward, allowing his coat to shift enough to show his sidearm. "I want to know where you got the remote controlled van."

"What? We don't have a remote controlled van. What in the hell are you talking about?" Hayes may know about dealing with politicians but he had never battled wits with an agent intent on taking him down.

"Really? So there was an accomplice. You forgot to mention that when you handed over Dickerson and said he was working alone." Check and mate.

Perhaps if he'd had the experience that came with being an undercover operative, Hayes could have rolled with it, but as a politician he responded the only way he knew how. "Get the hell out of my office. This meeting is over."

Gibbs stood and gave him that all-knowing smile, the one that unnerved ex-wives and now, apparently, deputy directors. "For now, but don't worry, we'll be in touch."

---NCIS---

"He's an idiot.'

"Yes, but he's a useful idiot."

"What about the other matter?"

"Don't worry, it will be taken care of."

"You're sure you can pull it off?"

"Have I ever not?"

tbc...


	12. Chapter 12

**a/n - a short chapter today, but a necessary one. I should be able to post again before I leave town in the morning. Then I'll be off to hear my son play in the symphony. Not too many musicians are hired by professional symphonies when they're freshmen in college. (why yes, that was a proud mommy moment you just heard)**

"What now, Boss?"

Gibbs glanced over at DiNozzo, then looked in the rear view mirror to see Caitlin. Though visibly tired, they both were focused and in control. "Now we go back to the evidence. Let's see what we can shake loose."

"We have all the identities confirmed by fingerprints from the FBI, right? Why not just go ahead and arrest them. They could leave the country while we're playing nice, Gibbs."

DiNozzo had been thinking along the same lines, so he stayed quiet as their boss answered her. "If we pick them up now all they'll do is point fingers at each other. I want the ringleader and I want to know why they did it. What are they covering up that made them attack McGee like that? There is more to it and I want to know what it is. Besides, if they were going to run they've already done it. If they haven't, then they won't."

"How do you figure that, Gibbs?" Some days Kate thinks she'll never understand the way his mind works.

Since they were at a red light, Gibbs took the opportunity to turn around and look at her directly instead of through the mirror. "They're the CIA, Kate. They're too arrogant to think we can prove anything, so let's prove something."

"How?" Tony drummed his fingers on the dashboard as he thought out loud. "How do we prove anything when we don't even have a direction to look? We weren't even investigating them when we were attacked. If you believe Hayes, Dickerson set the whole thing in motion because he was obsessed with Kate, but we know he didn't work alone. I can't believe that other agents would have gone along with it, not if the target was just to get a woman." He turned to the back seat. "No offence Kate."

"Tony's right, Gibbs; he has to be. It has to be more than some stalking pervert who got mad because he missed me. It has to be more." Kate's voice broke at the end of her plea, but to her credit, Gibbs noted, her eyes were dry.

"Director Morrow gave us the internal version of the CIA's annual budget. Let's follow the money and see what's different from the public version." Gibbs pulled up to the front doors of the NCIS building, Kate immediately knew what that meant, Tony wasn't as fast.

"Boss, why did you…"

"He's dropping us off."

---NCIS---

Fornell was already waiting when he arrived at the park. "How's the kid doing?" Gibbs sat onto the bench and leaned back to look up at the clouds.

"He's breathing on his own, but now he's developed pneumonia. At least he's awake and so far there doesn't seem to be any damage from a lack of oxygen." As pleased as he was about McGee's progress, overall it felt like a drop in the bucket. Fornell seemed to agree.

"Damn, the kid can't seem to catch a break, can he?" Fornell didn't appear to expect an answer as he continued. "I haven't been able to access the rest of the information you asked for yet. It may take another day or two before it's safe for my source to move on it."

"Understood. Tell me what you know about Deputy Director Hayes. How did a political hack like him end up as a deputy director?" Gibbs gave him an appraising look, hoping for the last few clues to piece the mystery together.

The sour face he was staring at gave him a pretty good indication he was onto something, as did the question he received instead of an answer. "Do you want the official version or the gossip?"

"I already have the official version."

Fornell laughed and shook his head. He'd known it was a stupid question the moment he had asked. "Rumor has it there is someone making a power play behind the scene at the CIA. Director Jamison is perpetually in full CYA mode, so one of his deputy directors is always a political appointee. That way if he needs a patsy there's someone to take the fall for the agency's screw ups. He gets double duty out of it. Jamison makes somebody happy on the appropriations committee by appointing one of their buddies and then when they take the fall, he can go back and…"

"Put pressure on the committee member that sent him the deputy that took the fall." Gibbs finished for him, laughing at the twisted brilliance of it. "If there is a screw up he doesn't like, he's got someone in his chain of command to take the heat. If the fallout is something he can use, he absorbs it into his power base. Am I right?" That sour look was back on Fornell's face so he had his answer. He wasn't expecting any better response to his next question either. "He's untouchable, isn't he? He's got his fingers in every dirty secret in DC."

"The best you'll be able to do is to take out some of the muscle and if you're lucky you might be able to snag some middle management. I doubt you can damage Hayes and you sure the hell won't be able to take out Jamison. You'd be an idiot to even try."

Gibbs stood and straightened his coat. "Nobody has every accused me of playing it smart. You should know that better than anyone Tobias."

Fornell sat and watched Gibbs climb in his car and leave. "Damn it Jethro, don't go and do something I can't pull you out of."


	13. Chapter 13

**a/n - Hope everyone had a good holiday, the concert was wonderful, even if it was nervewracking to see him abandon his crutches to hop up the steps and onto the stage with his trombone. Thanks for the reviews everyone, here's the next chapter. This was the most dificult to write so far. I think I edited it at least 10 times, I hope you are happy with the results.**

Gibbs pulled into the visitor's parking lot at Bethesda just as his phone rang. As was his habit, he glanced at the caller ID before he answered. "I'm in the parking lot, Ducky. How's McGee doing?"

_~ Jethro, I'm glad you're here. I'll meet you in the cafeteria.~ _

"What is it?" Gibbs realized he was speaking to the dial tone. It really was annoying to be on the wrong end of that maneuver he decided. Once parked, he jogged into the hospital and went up to the cafeteria on the second floor. Ducky was waiting for him at a corner table, sipping tea. A coffee was in front of the other chair, ready for Gibbs. He sat, but ignored the coffee for the moment.

"What's happened? Is McGee worse?"

Ducky, for once, explained the situation without any added storytelling. "The pneumonia is virtually unchanged. His fever is still high, but not to the point of being dangerous. They are going to give it until morning. If there is no improvement by then, they'll try a different antibiotic."

There was something about the way Ducky was hesitating that set off the famous Gibbs Gut. "Why not start it now?" Yes, there was something Ducky didn't want to tell him. It was there in the way he looked off to the side and not at his face. Jethro had been his friend too many years not to recognize the signs, so he waited.

Ducky slowly explained the problem to Gibbs' right ear, still not looking directly at him. "Timothy has a history of allergies, including to some medications. The newer antibiotics have a greater chance of causing an allergic reaction than the ones they are presently giving him."

The only way for Gibbs to not crush his full coffee was to let go of the cup. He carefully laid his hands flat on the table as he continued to question his old friend. "What kind of allergic reaction are we talking about?"

"It could be as mild as a slight rash, or…"

"Or?"

Ducky took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "There is a chance of respiratory complications. On top of the pneumonia and the respiratory issues from the Rohypnol, well it is something we'd like to avoid, especially over the next twelve to eighteen hours."

"The next twelve to eighteen hours?"

"There is some good news, Jethro." The fact that Ducky needed to start with some good news did not bode well as far as Gibbs was concerned. Ducky saw the look on his face and continued. "The swelling against Timothy's spine has drastically reduced and early indications are that at least most of his neurological functions will be restored. However, as the decompression continues…"

"In English, Duck."

"Yes, well, whatever feeling Timothy will regain will probably happen tonight. That in itself is good, but the process is going to be brutal."

"Brutal, how?" Gibbs had assumed and hoped that McGee would suddenly feel the lower half of his body. Apparently it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Jethro, you know how uncomfortable it is when the circulation is cut off from a limb for a short while." Few field operatives had never had the experience of being tied up. The worst part was the tingling pain when you were finally untied. Gibbs nodded silently, not knowing where Ducky was going with this. "Now multiply that by a factor of twenty or more, spread that pain out over half your body and add in all the injuries that Timothy has suffered that he can't feel at the moment. Then have it continue for hours upon hours."

"My God." Gibbs wasn't sure he had said it out loud because at the moment he wasn't sure he could move any air out of his lungs. Not even his worse nightmares could have entailed such an event for the young man. "They'll put him under, right, or at least pump him full of painkillers?"

"They can't. It will be necessary to monitor how much feeling he regains and there may be injuries we haven't located yet because of the lack of feeling. I'm afraid our young Timothy is facing a long and painful night that none of us can even imagine."

Gibbs rubbed his mouth as he thought over what Ducky had told him. "Who's with him right now?"

"Abby is in with him at the moment, but I believe it would be best if she not stay for the evening." When Gibbs raised an eyebrow, Ducky continued. "Timothy would not want Abigail to see him in such pain when nothing can be done about it and he shouldn't waste his strength trying to be stoic."

"Are you leaving soon?"

"Yes, Unfortunately so. Mother's day nurse can't stay much longer I'm afraid. She's been wonderful these last few days but even she has her limits." Ducky finished his tea and gathered his coat and bag. Gibbs stood as well, his full coffee in hand.

"I want you to take Abby with you, I'm staying with Tim."

"Do you want me to call Tony and have him join you here?" Even as Gibbs shook his head no, he knew that Tony would want to be here. He would want to help McGee through the upcoming events and be angry that he was being locked out. Nevertheless, there was a part of his brain that was very much in control at the moment. The part of his brain he thought he'd buried along side his beloved daughter, the child he never mentioned, never consciously thought about. He continued to ignore the memories as they walked to McGee's room.

Gibbs stood in the doorway and observed the activity in the hospital room. Abby was fluttering about with nervous energy, straightening his blankets, offering him sips of water and wiping down his face with a wet cloth, all the while keeping up a stream of conversation that even Gibbs couldn't keep up with. Judging from the look on his face, McGee was no longer even trying to keep up with her. He was even more pale and exhausted than the last time Gibbs had seen him. His left arm was home to an assortment of IV's, more than had been there earlier, and that hand was trembling while his right hand was tightly clutching the bedsheets. He flinched every time she touched him, a fact the young goth was not picking up on. That simple fact convinced Gibbs that he was right in sending her home. He strode into the room and intercepted her as she began circling around the bed.

"Abby, Ducky is going to drive you home."

"What? No Gibbs, Timmy needs me."

Gibbs didn't answer her, just set his coffee down and kept moving her towards the door, detouring slightly to pick up her bag and jacket on a nearby chair. Abby started to argue, but the expression on the older man's face silenced her. Before she knew it, they were out in the hallway and Gibbs was handing her over to Ducky. Finally she found her voice to continue the argument. "Gibbs, he shouldn't be alone."

"I know Abs."

"I mean, because he's hurting and he's still so sick."

"I know Abs."

"And the nurses are great, but they are professional and they aren't as good at giving comfort as we are and Tim needs…"

"I know, Abs."

"…someone here who…" Stopping, she realized that Ducky had moved her to the elevator and she was still clinging to Gibbs' sleeve, dragging him along. The older agent, the man she thought she knew better than anyone, the man whose many expressions she could interpret without a moment's hesitation, had a look on his face she had never seen on him. More so, that look was not directed at her, but back towards the room they had just left. Grasping at distant memories, she remembered she had seen that look before, on her own father's face the night her brother broke his arm. Her little brother, trying to be so brave and refusing comfort from either his big sister or their mother, only their father was able to give solace that night. Only their father was able to break through that self-imposed barrier her brother had put up, trying to be brave. She smiled at Gibbs, tears shining in her eyes. "You know, Gibbs. You really do know." She kissed his cheek and followed Ducky onto the elevator.

Once the elevator closed, Gibbs wasted no time returning to McGee's room. He pulled one of the chairs closer to the bed and leaned over, but did not touch, the young man. Feverish eyes opened and looked up at him. "Boss?"

"Hey kiddo." Slowly he shifted until his fingers brushed the clenched fist. He wrapped his hand around McGee's, unconsciously repeating DiNozzo's movements from the night before. "I think you need something a little more solid to hang onto tonight, don't you?" McGee relaxed his hand for a split second and Gibbs used the opportunity to shift his own hand under McGee's so Tim was grasping at it instead of a handful of fabric. When the next sharp pain stabbed through his body, Tim instinctively clamped down on the hand clutched in his. As soon as the pain eased, McGee let go, apologizing.

Gibbs would have none of it. "Hey, hey, that's there for a reason." He forced Tim's hand back down onto his, using his other hand to hold it in place. Another wave of pain hit and McGee was helpless to do anything but hang onto the offered hand. By the time the third wave was over, Gibbs was confident enough to move his top hand, placing it on the warm forehead, gaining the attention of the feverish agent. "Tim?" The rare use of his first name garnered the attention he desired as McGee blinked and looked directly at him. "Tim, tonight's going to be pretty rough, did the doctors tell you that?"

Warily, McGee nodded. Both the doctor assigned to his case and Ducky had given him ample warning, but the dry explanations were a faint shadow in comparison to the agony he was already feeling.

"Considering how sick you are, it's probably going to take all your strength to get through the night"

McGee nodded, biting back a sob as another round of pain hit. "I'm afraid I don't feel very strong, Boss."

"That's okay, McGee, you don't have to be. Don't worry about being strong, or brave, or anything else you think you need to be. We're going to get through this together, you and me. You just lean on me anyway you need to, so you squeeze my hand or yell, or cry, anything that helps you get through tonight. You hear me?" He moved from the chair to sit on the edge of the bed, leaning close so McGee couldn't look away.

The visage of his boss was all that Tim could see leaning over him. This time, however, it was not the stern face that expected so much from him on the job, nor was it the angry face that did not tolerate failure, no matter how slight and unavoidable. This face was caring and full of compassion, ready to battle his pain along side him with no hesitation and no boundaries. The pain seemed to take a small step back as he gave the other man a watery smile. "I hear you, Boss."

The outside world faded into the background as together, they fought. The hours passed slowly, but Gibbs never took a break, Tim never looked away. Medical staff came and went, the nasal canula was exchanged for a full oxygen mask and Tim never looked away. Even as dawn broke and he fell into a restless, exhausted sleep, Gibbs never took a break.

---NCIS---

Fornell didn't stir from the park bench until the street lights came on. Somehow the team at NCIS always seemed to get under his skin. Trying to shake off the feeling, he started his car and began driving to clear his head. Hours and most of a tank of gas later, he found himself in the visitor's parking lot at Bethesda. It was long past visiting hours, but a flash of the badge worked here as well as most places. It wasn't until he was in the elevator that he even questioned how to explain his presence, but then he and Gibbs had long since moved past the point where either of them needed justification.

Outside McGee's room was an agent he only recognized vaguely. The man was obviously aware of his arrival and was just as obviously not watching what was going on in the room behind him. When Fornell moved closer, a hand on his arm and a few whispered words in his ear stopped him at the large window into the room. He watched, stunned, as Gibbs eased the injured man through what was apparently a pain filled episode, speaking too softly to be heard by anyone other than who his words were intended for. Fornell continued to watch, realizing that Gibbs was not aware of his presence for the first time in their long and complicated friendship. He turned to leave, but instead found himself sitting in the second chair, head against the glass, a second, silent guard.


	14. Chapter 14

Kate arrived in the morning to the most unusual sight. Slumped in a chair outside McGee's hospital room was Tobias Fornell. Not quite sure what to make of the sight, she turned to Agent Miranda Carter, leaning against the wall on the other side of the door. "Did something happen last night?"

"Apparently McGee had a pretty rough night. I took over about an hour ago, but it's been quiet since I got here."

"Rough how and why is Fornell here?" Kate weighed the two coffees she carried. One was for Gibbs and the other one was sweetened just the way she liked it. There was no real love lost between her and the FBI agent, but he obviously had found it necessary to watch over McGee and Gibbs last night. Not only that, but he was going to have a heck of a sore neck when he woke up. Sighing as she made her decision, she took the sweetened coffee and waved it under his nose. As expected, his nose wrinkled and his eyes opened. She winced in sympathy as he straightened up and took the offered cup. "It's sweetened, I'm afraid." He shrugged and took it anyways as she continued. "I'm not sure how you take your coffee but I do know how Gibbs reacts to anything but straight coffee so you'll have to settle for this one."

Fornell gave a low chuckle. "Right now I'd even take it flavored with Kool-Aid."

Kate decided she really didn't want to know, so she focused on what she did want to know. "What happened last night? Carter said it was a rough night."

"According to the doctor who came by at some point last night, McGee experienced a return of neurological functions." His words sounded good to Kate, then she saw the look on his face as he finished. "If it had been me in that bed, I think I'd have rather kept the paralysis." He downed a third of the coffee without taking a breath and then stood. Both Kate and Carter cringed as he stretched his back and it popped repeatedly. Fornell gave one last look into the room and shook his head. "Well, I'm off to slay some dragons before that boss of yours gets himself beheaded. Take care of them, Agent Todd." He gave her a hard look before walking away.

Something about his tone told Kate that things were not going to get better any time soon. She and Carter shared a troubled look before she entered the hospital room. Gibbs didn't even look up at her entrance. Her first action was to replace Gibbs' empty coffee cup with the new cup she had brought with her. She picked up the coffee and immediately set it back down. It was full; Gibbs had let an entire cup of coffee sit and get cold, apparently all night. Chewing on her lip, Kate approached the bed, unsure. She held out the fresh coffee towards Gibbs. He lifted the hand that was resting on McGee's head and took the coffee. Without even taking a sip he set it down on the bedside table and returned his hand to where it had been. Kate was used to him not making eye contact when he was busy, but this was something entirely different. She settled into a chair and watched. Gibbs seemed to be waiting for something, some signal only he would know. Kate leaned forward and rested her hand on Tim's upper arm.

"Don't."

She jerked her hand back, assuming that she was somehow hurting McGee. As soon as she opened her mouth to ask, she was shushed by the older man. Any further response she may have had was interrupted when McGee's eyes began to move under the closed lids. Gibbs leaned even closer and turned McGee's face enough that Kate was no longer in his range of vision. Hurt by the implication, she waited in silence to see what would happen when McGee woke up. With his own face inches away, Gibbs was the only thing Tim could see when he opened his eyes.

"Hey buddy, good morning." Gibbs smiled as he spoke, a rare full smile that those around him rarely saw. McGee weakly smiled back, obviously a welcome sight to Gibbs.

"Boss." His words could barely be heard through the oxygen mask. "It's over?"

"Yeah, I think so. You did great, son, but now it's time to rest, alright?" He brushed Tim's hair back. "You close your eyes and when you wake up, Kate will be here to stay with you." His hand moved from Tim's hair to his forehead, to his eyes, soothing over his lids as soon as they closed. After only a few moments it was apparent that Tim was deeply asleep. Gibbs brushed his hand across Tim's forehead one final time and stood, letting go with his other hand at the last moment. He swayed slightly before standing completely upright. As he flexed his other hand, she saw fresh bruises scattered across it. Kate had a thousand questions and knew she wasn't going to get many answers as she followed Gibbs to the far corner of the room. She settled for one question.

"What do I need to know?"

Gibbs didn't answer for a long time as he watched the sleeping form and rubbed his bruised hand. Eventually he gave her an answer. "Don't let them change his antibiotics before Ducky gets here."

"What? Gibbs, what is going on?" She followed him as he retraced his steps to pick up the fresh coffee. He touched her shoulder but didn't say another word as he walked out of the room.

---NCIS---

Gibbs allowed himself twenty minutes to take a brisk shower at home before heading back to NCIS. Years as a marine gave him the strength, sniper training gave him the focus, and his desire to protect his own gave him the fire necessary to keep going. He called and had their prisoner returned to an interrogation room before he was even inside the Navy Yard.

DiNozzo met him in the observation room, studying him as much as the prisoner. Gibbs ignored the concern and silent questions, intent on breaking Dickerson and closing in on the monsters responsible for the attack on McGee. Folder in hand, he left the observation room and stormed into interrogation, slamming the door behind him. Dickerson looked up at the sound of the door, but made no other sign of responding. Gibbs didn't say a word, just opened the file and spread out the photos of each suspect identified by fingerprints found at the site where McGee had been held and tortured. He waited until Dickerson finally looked at the images.

"Who's the ringleader? Which one of them called the shots?" Gibbs leaned over into Dickerson's face. "Today is not the day to piss me off, so start talking."

Dickerson stared at the pictures as a broad smile spread across his face. He started laughing as Gibbs stared at him. "Missing one there, Agent Gibbs. Guess you're not as omnipotent as everyone seems to think you are." He continued to laugh manically, but his expression changed to one of resignation. "I was right about them, too." He fell sideways, knocking over his chair as he toppled to the ground. Gibbs stood, staring at the fallen suspect as his body convulsed once then went still. Instinct kicked in and he skidded around the table, dropping to his knees to begin CPR. Behind him he heard the door slam open and looked up to see DiNozzo rush in.

"Ducky's on his way." DiNozzo moved to Dickerson's head to begin rescue breathing, but pulled back when he saw the blood tinted foam bubbling up between his lips. Gibbs saw it too, but continued to beat on the still chest under his hands. Ducky arrived and DiNozzo pulled Gibbs back to give him room to work.

A cursory exam told Ducky that his skills as a medical examiner would be needed, not his skills as a doctor. He noted the time of death and called down for a gurney to transport the body down to the morgue.

Gibbs was furious as DiNozzo held him back. "Damn it, he knows something. You can't let him die, Ducky, he knows who we missed." Ducky stepped over the body and confronted him.

"He's gone, Jethro, he's gone. There is nothing more I can do. Whatever he did or did not know, I'm afraid he took the knowledge with him to the grave. Whatever it was, you'll have to find it out another way." He paused, lowering his voice. "I am sure you will do just that, you will somehow find the answers." Gibbs gave a jerky nod and stormed out of the room and headed for the Director's office.


	15. Chapter 15

**a/n - Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. We've still got a ways to go, but you should start picking up some clues soon.**

"Is it true?" Director Morrow didn't even wait for the door to close behind Gibbs before he started with the questions. "Do we know a cause of death yet?" Gibbs just shook his head as he collapsed rather than sat in the chair across from Morrow's desk.

"Ducky'll have to tell us for sure, but it had to be some type of poison. There's another player in the game, if I'd had a few more seconds we'd have a name." Gibbs slammed his fist onto the arm of the chair. "Damn it, damn it to hell, we were so close."

Morrow didn't acknowledge his outburst, or admit he was feeling the same frustration. He was more worried about how somebody had gotten to the prisoner inside the NCIS headquarters and what it meant for their overall security. "I want to know how someone got to him. If the CIA has a source inside our agency I want to know about it and put a stop to it now. The team from the Pentagon will handle the investigation into Dickerson's death. I want you to continue to focus on McGee's attack."

"Sir, it's all the same case, you know that."

"I am aware of that, Agent Gibbs." Morrow rarely showed his temper, but having his agent and his agency targeted was wearing on his nerves. "However, you were the only one in the room when Dickerson died. If the CIA wanted to make a case out of it, they could. I am expecting them to, if for no other reason than to distract us from their own activities. We cannot accuse the CIA of wrongdoing without keeping ourselves above reproach. Therefore, you will not touch the investigation into Dickerson's death, and a team not based here at headquarters will take the lead. Now, if your team chooses to spend any of your free time having a friendly beer with the members of the Pentagon team, that is certainly your prerogative and I won't interfere." Morrow gave Gibbs a long look and Gibbs nodded in understanding. As long as the paperwork showed no hint of their involvement, his team would have full access to that part of the investigation. On any other case Gibbs might have been annoyed by the interference, but every corner of the agency had come together in response to the attack. He realized that the Director was speaking to him again and turned his attention back to the other man.

"I'm glad to see that Agent McGee is getting plenty of support from his friends and coworkers, but he's going to need more than that." Morrow pulled a business card out of his shirt pocket and handed it to Gibbs. The card was for Michael Keller, a psychologist with an office in nearby Huntington. "I've spoken to Michael briefly about the situation, so he will be expecting your call. He's spent a great deal of time in Central America working with torture survivors; he'll be able to help McGee recover."

Gibbs knew it was standard for a psychologist to be part of the recovery process in situations like McGee's, but he still bristled at the thought of handing him over to a stranger so soon. "I'll talk to McGee about it, but he may not be ready to talk to someone he doesn't know."

The reluctance wasn't a surprise. Morrow knew how protective Gibbs was of his people, but he'd watched good agents destroyed by less than what their young agent had experienced and wasn't going to lose another one. "Gibbs... Jethro," that caught his attention. Morrow rarely called him by his given name. "McGee will probably never remember most of what happened to him. A few fragments at best, am I right?"

Tim's recalled nightmare played through his mind. "He remembers the sensation of drowning."

"The waterboarding." It was a statement, not a question. When Gibbs gave a slight acknowledgement, he continued. "I've never experienced it, but I know men that have. It's been years, but some of them still have such horrifying flashbacks that they can't stand to take a shower or listen to the rainfall. I don't want to see that happen to McGee. He's a good kid and he should have every opportunity to recover and move past this."

Gibbs tapped the card on his fingers before sliding it into his own pocket. "He will, sir. You have my word on that."

The desk phone buzzed, interrupting their conversation. Morrow answered it and listened before responding. "Send him in."

Tobias Fornell entered the office and came straight to the point. "Director Morrow, Agent Gibbs, my sources tell me that Hayes is going to give up Dickerson's accomplice. He's getting some pressure from above and is hoping it will get you off his back."

Gibbs was not entirely pleased. "If he's going to hand them over one at a time, it's going to take forever. Maybe Todd was right and we should just scoop them all up at once."

"I thought we didn't want to tip our hand." Fornell's eyes flickered between the two men. "We dangle a deal in front of Dickerson and the new guy and see which one rats the other out first. One of them is bound to talk to save his own hide once they realize they've been screwed over by their agency."

"There's only one problem with that."

Fornell groaned silently. There was another unrecognized expression on his old friend's face. So far this week that had not been a good sign so he waited for Gibbs to continue.

"They got to him. Surrounded by our protection, they got to Dickerson."

"So? Talk to him again. You're way scarier than they are when you want to be." There was that expression again on Gibbs' face and suddenly he knew what it meant. "He's dead? Crap, how did that happen?" It was Morrow that answered.

"They managed to poison him. We don't know how yet."

Fornell dropped into the extra chair. "Damn it. Well, we better go get their next fall guy before it's public knowledge."

"We, Tobias?"

Fornell gave Gibbs a lopsided grin. "I think it's time the FBI officially took an interest in the investigation." The other man returned the smile less enthusiastically, knowing what a risk Fornell was taking with his career.

The somber mood was broken when Morrow's assistant's voice came through the intercom. "Agent Todd's on line four sir." Morrow looked at Gibbs for information as he reached for the phone.

"She's at the hospital with McGee today." With that knowledge Morrow hit the speaker button on the phone so they could all hear her report.

"Agent Todd, how is Agent McGee?"

~Director, is Gibbs with you?~

"I'm right here, Kate. Are there any changes?" Her voice sounded upbeat and he allowed himself to hope

_~Ducky and the doctor here argued all morning about changing the antibiotics before Ducky left, but now I guess it's a mute point.~_

"What do you mean?"

_~His fever broke a few minutes ago, Gibbs. He's beating the pneumonia.~_

Gibbs let out a breath and let his chin drop onto his chest. "Thank God."

After Morrow disconnected the call Fornell slapped Gibbs on the back. "That kid of yours is quite a fighter, but then he'd have to be to put up with DiNozzo."

---NCIS---

As usual, the blonde woman sitting at the desk in Deputy Director Hayes' outer office seemed amused to see Gibbs when he arrived. This time, however, she seemed unsettled to see someone from the FBI with him, Gibbs noted with interest. Typical with most self-important bureaucrats, Hayes kept them waiting almost thirty minutes before they were allowed into his office. Neither man noticed the phone call the assistant made after the door closed behind them.

Hayes had never been pleased to see Gibbs, but this time, Gibbs noted, he was especially distracted by the presence of Fornell. His attention kept sliding to the FBI agent as he addressed Gibbs. "We've completed our internal investigation of the McGee matter. It appears you were right and Dickerson had an accomplice. He drove the van as you are aware of."

Gibbs and Fornell exchanged a look. They both knew rote memorization of a prepared statement when they heard it. Fornell raised an eyebrow and Gibbs tilted his head slightly to answer him, turning the questioning over to Fornell for the moment. "If he was just the driver, then why did he participate in the assault on Agent McGee?"

They were not surprised by how uncomfortable Hayes became when Fornell took over, but they were slightly shocked by the flash of anger he showed. Apparently the Deputy Director had a bit of a backbone after all, unusual in the long line of Jamison's lapdogs.

"We did not plan on attacking him." Hayes stopped and looked away, obviously reigning himself in before he continued. "As I already told Agent Gibbs, we had concerns about the ability of his agents to hold up under pressure, so he was being tested. When… when he didn't' break, our man lost his temper."

"Lost his temper?" Fornell stared at the Deputy Director. He wasn't sure what stunned him more, the audacity of the man or the fact that Gibbs had not killed him yet. "Let me see if I have this straight. You were afraid that the rookie agent not under your command might break if he were kidnapped and tortured. So to confirm this, you had him kidnapped and tortured. Am I right so far?" He didn't wait for a response. "Then when this rookie, this kid, held up and didn't break, your guy lost his temper and spent the next two days just beating him?" Fornell stood and leaned on Hayes' desk. "I'm sure that sounded much better in your head, because from where I'm standing it sounds like a load of bullpucky.

Sweating, Hayes blinked and didn't say anything in response, so Gibbs stood as if to leave. "We'll just get our answers when we conduct our own interview with the man, Deputy Director. We will be taking him with us, of course."

The laugh he got in response was brittle. "I'm not turning another agent over to you, Gibbs, not after you killed the last one."

"Really? And how did you know about Dickerson's ill health?" Gibbs deliberately left unsaid the result of that failing of the suspect's health to see what reaction there would be. Hayes looked like a fish out of water, gaping at them. As hoped, the vague words left the possibility open that somehow Dickerson had survived and Hayes had fallen for it.

Behind them the door opened and Hayes' assistant came in. "I'm sorry for interrupting, sir, but they are waiting for you upstairs."

Hayes smiled and stood, gathering several folders on his desk. "Thank you for reminding me, my dear." He turned back to the two agents across from him. "Well, this has been most interesting, but you'll have to excuse me. I can't keep the boss waiting."

Gibbs stepped in front of him, blocking his path. "This isn't over yet, Hayes."

"Oh, I think I can guarantee you that it is, Agent Gibbs." Hayes stepped around him and continued towards the door, barely slowing down as Fornell responded.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

The tall blonde stood holding the door open, waiting for them to leave. When they passed her she gave them a saccharine smile. "Have a pleasant day, gentlemen."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N - so happy everyone is still enjoying this and thanks for the betas. I've been stressed worrying about my son and his broken ankle. Sorry I am late in posting today's chapter, he was at two different doctors today at the other end of the state from me and I've been on the phone with him most of the day. News isn't great, so we could use the postive thoughts from everybody.**

The car was at least five miles from Langley before either man took an easy breath. Neither of them commented on how the other jumped when Fornell's phone rang. He didn't say a word to the person on the other end, but gave a grim smile as he hung up. "The CIA has already sanitized Dickerson's home."

"No big surprise there."

"Nope, but," his smile became a bit wider and a lot more real. "They apparently don't know about his storage unit."

"Really?" Now Fornell had Gibbs' full attention and the FBI agent cringed as they sped down the road.

"Car! Jethro, car!"

Once they were safely back in their lane with no cars coming towards them, Fornell explained further. "It looks like he rented it about three months ago in his mother's maiden name. They hadn't picked up on it yet."

"Where?"

Fornell recited the address as he plugged it into the car's GPS. With Gibbs behind the wheel, they were parked within twenty minutes. Avoiding the cameras, they slipped in as another car entered the gate. Once they were standing outside the door of the unit, Gibbs turned to Fornell.

"Are you going to bitch and complain because I don't have a warrant?"

It may have been against every policy and rule, but Fornell knew that getting a warrant would bring the CIA to the site within minutes. He turned his back to Gibbs and his set of lockpicks. In his best German accent he told Gibbs, "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing."

Laughing quietly, Gibbs made quick work of the padlock and carefully checked the door and frame for wires or other booby traps. Once it was clear, they slipped inside and closed the door behind them. Their flashlights cast eerie shadows on the walls as they looked around. The small unit was almost empty; there was just a low table against the far wall. They moved closer to the wall to see that it was covered with pictures of Caitlin Todd, some dating back to her days with the Secret Service. The table was covered with a variety of items, including a used cup from Kate's favorite coffee shop and the leather glove she had complained about losing just a few weeks ago. Gibbs pulled on a pair of latex gloves and handed a second set to Fornell. Fornell first took a small camera out of his jacket pocket and took a few dozen pictures before donning the gloves. They gathered all the photos from the wall and put them in an evidence bag that Gibbs had stashed in a pocket of his NCIS jacket. Next he handed another evidence bag to Fornell. The FBI agent took a second look at Gibbs as he pulled more bags, tape and notecards out of his jacket. Apparently, the NCIS jackets had a lot more inside pockets than the standard FBI jackets did. When they had everything bagged, the two men eased out of the unit and returned to the car without being seen.

Gibbs was the first to break the silence. "How did someone that twisted get into the CIA? Never mind, don't answer that." He looked over at Fornell to see an equally disturbed expression on his face.

Fornell really didn't want to answer that question, so he diverted it slightly. "Is it possible somebody, I don't know, encouraged his obsession with Todd or helped him set that shrine up?"

"At this point, who knows? Nothing's been what it seemed to be so far, why should this be any different? Abby should be able to tell us how many people have handled the stuff."

---NCIS---

"Hello, my dear, how is Timothy doing this evening?" Kate looked up from her book as Ducky and Tony quietly entered the room. McGee was sleeping soundly, the oxygen mask had been replaced with a nasal canula and only one IV was left in his arm. "I must say, he looks remarkably better than he did this morning."

Kate returned the smile. "Whatever you were arguing with the doctors about this morning, Ducky, you were right. His fever broke about an hour after you left. He's still running a low-grade fever but they said that is to be expected. Best of all, they started giving him painkillers and he's finally getting some real rest."

Ducky picked up the chart and started looking through it as Tony sat next to the bed. He watched his young partner sleep for a few minutes before Kate's words caught up with his head. "What do you mean, they started giving him painkillers? Weren't they giving him some before now?"

"Morphine would have caused complications earlier, Tony." Ducky, apparently satisfied with what he read in the chart, put it down and turned to DiNozzo. "It depresses the respiratory system and he was having enough problems from the overdose of Rohypnol, then we had the pressure on his spine to contend with. The neurologist needed to know exactly how much feeling Timothy had at any given time, especially last night."

Kate was again watching McGee sleep. "They said that last night was really bad."

"You weren't here?" Tony looked up at her. "If we weren't here, then who was, Abby?"

Ducky answered before Kate could. "Gibbs sent Abby home and he stayed with him."

"Gibbs? Was the Boss the best person to do that? I mean, if Probie had a really rough night and well, you know, Gibbs isn't exactly the touchy feely kind of guy."

"Actually, he was the best person to be with Tim last night." Kate interrupted him before Tony could get a rant going. She had thought a lot about it that day. If either she or Abby had been there, Tim would have put up a brave front, with Tony, he was still unsure of his place. Somehow Gibbs had found a way to give the kind of support the young man had needed, whatever it had been. Gibbs would never tell her, she knew that and Tim would never know she had walked into the tail end of it.

"The best person?" Tony's question brought Kate back to the present. He seemed hurt by her statement and she gave him a sad smile.

"He cares, Tony. He may not show it the way most of us do, but he cares and last night he was the best person to be with Tim." Kate didn't know how else to explain. Tony didn't seem to really understand her explanation, but he didn't question her further. Instead he concentrated on McGee.

"Is he really better, Ducky?"

"Yes, Tony, he is improving. He still has a long ways to go, but he has definitely turned the corner. Barring any unforeseen happenings, things should go much better for him now." Ducky pulled up the third chair next to DiNozzo and sat down, resting his hand on Tony's shoulder to get his attention. "Don't get me wrong, Tony, this is excellent news. However, now that he has moved from survival to recovery, in some ways it will be even more difficult for him. We can't expect too much too soon or let him become discouraged because it will not be a quick recovery. Now it is time for Caitlin and myself to leave for the evening. Is there anything we can do for you before we leave?"

"Show me how to go back in time?" His words were forced and not entirely joking. Ducky squeezed his shoulder before he stood up.

"Forward is our only direction, I'm afraid. Let's leave the case at the office and worry about Timothy's recovery while we are here, shall we?"

It was a rhetorical question and Ducky didn't wait for an answer. Tony watched as he and Kate left. Once they were on the elevator, he rubbed both sides of his face briskly as he settled in to watch Tim sleep. He hoped Ducky was right and McGee's recovery would begin in the morning, because many more nights and his image as a shallow cad would be in serious jeopardy


	17. Chapter 17

**a/n - the party was great and I am back posting. Things are starting to heat up so I hope you had time to catch your breath. Did you get a chance to read the one-shot I posted before I left?**

"Thanks for coming back in, Abby." Gibbs knew the woman well enough to know she wasn't happy at being back at the lab instead of being at the hospital with McGee.

Abby gave a slow nod as she pulled on her lab coat. "What did you find that couldn't wait until morning, Gibbs? I haven't gotten to see Timmy all day."

"I know." He kissed her cheek as he set the box of evidence on the table. Abby signed the paperwork without looking closely at what the box contained. "I don't think Kate should see this."

His words and tone set off an alarm in Abby's head and she set the clipboard down to take a better look at the bags in the evidence box. Photos of Kate filled many of the bags while others contained used coffee cups, used straws, a glove, and even an empty dispenser of birth control pills. She looked up at him, sickened. "Gibbs, what is all this?"

"Dickerson had a shrine to Kate hidden in a storage unit that we _think_ no one knew about." Abby noticed his emphasis.

"What do you mean, think?"

"It's the CIA, Abs. Dickerson may have kept this hidden from them or it may all be an elaborate ruse."

"You're still not sure Dickerson was stalking Kate."

Gibbs leaned against the table in a rare show of exhaustion. "At this point, I don't know what to believe. The one thing I do know is that Kate doesn't need to know about any of this yet."

Silently Abby agreed, Kate had been tearing herself apart with guilt over what had happened to McGee. She looked at the piles of pictures and other items as she shook her head. "This is going to take all night and most of tomorrow to go through. Can you keep Kate away that long?"

"I'll keep her busy with the financial records or at the hospital with McGee." Gibbs saw the look on Abby's face and hugged her. "I know, Abby, but as soon as we nail these bastards I'll clear you for a couple of days off and you can fuss over him all you want. I promise."

"You better." She turned away and started laying out the evidence. He watched her as she became engrossed in the work, then quietly slipped out.

---NCIS---

As had become their morning routine before the attack on McGee, Kate dropped her backpack off at her desk and went straight to Abby's lab where the two women would share breakfast. Today was Kate's turn to bring food and she had fresh muffins and juice from the small deli just blocks from her apartment. The first thing she noticed when she exited the elevator was the lack of music and thought she had beaten the other woman into the building. It had never happened before, but she was early and it was an unusual week to say the least. Some sounds were coming from the lab and she called out as she got close. "Abby, are you here yet?" Kate set her package down on the floor as she listened. The sounds from the lab became more frantic sounding and Kate rested her hand on her gun and moved closer to the door of the lab. She eased through the door and quietly moved across the main lab towards the ballistics lab. Lost in thought and in an apparent rush, Abby came out of her office, her face buried in a stack of read-outs. Kate pulled back, taking her hand off her gun. "Abby, you startled me."

"Kate!" Abby almost dropped the papers as she clutched them to her chest. "What are you doing here so early?" She looked guilty as she moved to block Kate's access to Abby's office, where they normally would eat. "I've got so much stuff scattered in there right now, why don't we eat up at your desk today?"

---NCIS---

Gibbs had barely walked into the squad room when his phone rang. He saw Kate's backpack and began looking for her as he answered. "Gibbs."

_~Hey, Boss, it's me. They're starting physical therapy in a few minutes. Thought you'd want to know.~_

"Already? Isn't that pushing it a little bit?" Gibbs was all for getting back on the horse, but this seemed rather fast. Tony sounded like he also had doubts as Gibbs took the stairs to Abby's lab two at a time, suspicious as to where he would find Kate.

_~The neurologist said the faster they get the nerves and muscles working together, the better his chances of walking again.~_

It sounded like a perfect excuse to get Kate away from headquarters for a few hours. "All right, we're on our way." He hung up so he didn't have to listen to any objections and stepped into Abby's lab. Abby was trying to deflect the other woman from the evidence she had laid out in her office and Gibbs smoothly stepped in between them. "Kate, you're with me."

---NCIS---

Gibbs and Kate stood just inside the entrance of the physical therapy room at Bethesda. It was a large room with many patients struggling to regain their strength and mobility, but their attention was on one figure in the far corner. With DiNozzo standing off to the side, McGee was laying on his back, trying to push his right foot into the hand of his therapist with little apparent luck. They looked at each other before weaving their way through the parallel bars and balance balls to where McGee and his therapist were working. By the time they got close, Gibbs was furious. He knew about the deep bruises that blackened the soles of McGee's feet. How could anyone expect him to put pressure on them willingly he couldn't understand. Once they met up with DiNozzo, he guided Kate towards him while he continued on to where McGee was laying.

"Boss looks mad." Tony watched as the older man cornered the therapist.

Kate thought back to that first day in the emergency room. Of all the injuries McGee had suffered, the ones to his feet had bothered Ducky the most. He hadn't said that much on the subject, but she had never seen him so angry as when he looked at the ultrasound results. Gibbs looked just as mad, instructing the therapist to brace McGee's ankles, not the bottoms of his feet. They watched as Gibbs took over, assisting McGee as he fought to move his legs. His hands were clenched at his sides and he was sweating, struggling to do what had been second nature only days ago. Kate felt the guilt well up again as she observed him straining, determined to recover.

Where Kate saw the suffering, Tony saw the determination. He turned to Kate to tease her about their boy growing up when he saw her expression. Not wanting McGee to be distracted from what he needed to do, he wrapped his arm around Kate and walked her away from him. Once they were in the relative privacy of a nearby corridor he confronted her. "Kate, you've got to pull it together."

"You don't understand."

"Yeah I do. Probie needs to lean on us for awhile. How can he do that if he's afraid we're gonna buckle under the strain?" He watched as she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Finally, she looked up at him.

"How do I live with it? If all this was because of me, how can I ever look him in the eye again? How will he ever trust me again to watch his back?"

"He doesn't blame you Kate, and he's never stopped trusting you. The other night he was really worried about you because you were upset."

"He was? He shouldn't worry about anything else except getting better." She angrily brushed away the tears that were threatening to fall.

The physical therapy session lasted thirty minutes, but it was the longest thirty minutes the team had ever experienced. Drained, Tim was helped back into a wheelchair by his therapist under the watchful eye of Gibbs before he was returned to his room in intensive care. Director Morrow had pulled a few strings to keep McGee in the private room with more nurses available citing security issues, much to the relief of his teammates. While the three of them waited out in the hall, two nurses assisted the therapist in settling McGee in his bed. One of the nurses and the therapist left as soon as he was in bed, while the second nurse remained to check Tim's status. Once satisfied, she also left the room, blocking the door.

"Agent McGee is asleep and will probably sleep for several hours at least." When they didn't seem to be getting the hint, she continued. "You three are starting to look worse than he does. Take a break, get some food, he's going to be fine." She stood in the doorway until they moved towards the elevator. Satisfied, she returned to the nurse's station.

Just as the elevator doors closed, they heard an alarmed cry. "Who are you? Get away from him. Security!" Not even the combined strength of Gibbs and DiNozzo could force the doors back open.


	18. Chapter 18

**a/n - wow, a lot of feedback. Thank you all. Those of you who thought the last chapter was mean, well, you will probably be screaming even louder this time. Next update is scheduled for Wednesday.**

By the time they had forced the elevator to release them, the entire ICU unit was in chaos. The agent assigned to watch McGee's room was crumpled, unmoving on the corridor floor, several nurses working on him. Inside McGee's room a man in scrubs was bent over McGee, injecting something into the port of his IV while struggling with another nurse. Not noticing that help had arrived she jumped on his back and was promptly thrown across the room, colliding with Gibbs and Tony as they came through the door. As the three tumbled to the floor Kate was able to sidestep the tangle of limbs while she pulled her weapon. In such a small space McGee's attacker only needed to take a few steps to reach her, grasping her wrist before she was able to draw down on him. They struggled with the gun and Kate kneed him hard in the groin. He backhanded her, trying to gain control of the gun but Kate refused to give up, headbutting him and knocking him back a few feet. Behind her, Gibbs was back on his feet and reaching for his own SIG. Running out of options, the mystery man drew back and slugged Kate hard, knocking her into Gibbs.

Tony felt the back of his head bounce as he hit the ground, both Gibbs and one of the nurses on top of him. He lay there stunned only vaguely aware of the fight gong on between Kate and McGee's attacker. On top of him, Gibbs was trying to slide out from under the unconscious woman without injuring her further and managed to jab an elbow into DiNozzo's stomach. He grunted, still trying to shake off the cobwebs. Gibbs was finally off him, moving the woman off him as well. He quickly rolled over to better climb to his feet when Gibbs and now Kate slammed into him. Tony hit the tile floor face first, feeling his eyebrow split at the impact. He saw Kate's weapon slide past him on the floor, but he couldn't get his hands free in time to grab it.

Charging into McGee's hospital room, Gibbs only had a fraction of a second to react as the body of a nurse flew at him, just time to bring his arms up, but not enough time to brace himself. She screamed at the moment of impact, cut short as they hit the floor. Her head hit his chin and he saw stars. Unable to take the time to assess her injuries he moved her to the side as he attempted to regain his footing. His left arm was tingling from jamming his elbow in the fall and his right elbow was pressing into something soft, limiting his leverage as he tried to rise. Above him Kate was using every bit of her training to contain the man she was fighting. He heard DiNozzo grunt under him and he finally managed to stand just in time to be hit by Kate as she was knocked backwards by a strong uppercut. For the second time in less than ten seconds, his chin was slammed by the head of a woman, but this time he tasted blood. Their attacker didn't even try to get past them and through the door. Instead, he grabbed one of the chairs and tossed it against the glass. It shattered, pieces falling both into the room and out into the hallway. He rubbed the leg of the chair against the shards of glass still in the bottom of the frame and climbed through to make his escape.

None too gently, Gibbs shoved Kate's limp form off of him and again climbed to his feet, DiNozzo mirroring his actions. DiNozzo scooped up Kate's gun as he ran down the corridor, following their suspect to the stairs. Gibbs started to follow, but a gasp from the bed stopped him instantly. He rushed to the bed and found a syringe still stuck in the IV port. Not knowing what else to do, Gibbs yanked the IV out of McGee's arm, calling for help. As McGee's fight for oxygen intensified and his body stiffened medical personnel filled the room, some stopping to assist the two injured women on the floor while the rest swarmed around the bed. Gibbs was shoved out of the way as a 'code blue' went out over the intercom.

---NCIS---

Still dizzy and with blood oozing into his eye, Tony stumbled as he ran. He heard more than saw the suspect slam through the door into the stairwell. He hung onto Kate's Sig Sauer as he hit the door, throwing it open. He could hear the thump of heavy footsteps below him and clattered down the steps after him, hoping to catch up before the man made it to the ground floor. He'd even settle for a shot at one of his legs to take him down without killing the man. No matter what, they needed a live prisoner to take down the conspiracy that had attacked McGee. A heavier thud sounded as the suspect vaulted over the railing of the last section of steps giving him quicker access to the door to the main level. Tony cursed as he heard the door fly open and the sounds of a busy emergency room filtered through into the stairwell. Too many innocent people milling around would make a shot impossible so he hoped someone there would come to his aid in taking the man down.

---NCIS---

Gibbs watched the swarm of activity around McGee's bed. It was too crowded to see his agent, but as long as they were working on him, that meant he was still alive. He turned back to the medical personnel working on Kate and the injured nurse. The nurse was sitting up, still obviously dazed and Kate's eyes were beginning to flutter open. Gibbs knew the moment awareness returned to her as she immediately tried to sit up. The doctor tried to stop her from rising, but she shoved him back and reached out a hand to Gibbs. He grasped her offered hand and pulled her upright. She swayed so he held on until she seemed stable on her feet.

"What did he do to McGee?" Kate tried to move closer to the bed and he snagged her arm to keep her out of way.

"Let them work."

The timbre of his words stopped Kate cold in her tracks. "Not again, why are they still going after him? Hasn't he suffered enough?"

---NCIS---

DiNozzo chased his suspect through the crowded hallways of the emergency wing of the hospital. He still had Kate's gun in one hand as he pulled out his badge with the other. "NCIS Agent, somebody stop him!" One man attempted to assist and was downed quickly for his efforts. Seeing that, many who might have aided in the capture quickly backed off. The runner turned a corner, tossing a medicine cart onto the floor behind him in an attempt to slow DiNozzo down. His sports background came into play as Tony hurdled the obstacle without even slowing. The main door to the ambulance entrance was now in sight and both men picked up speed. The suspect passed a stretcher and spun it around in back of him. The occupied gurney threatened to tip as it twisted, forcing DiNozzo to slow down and steady it. Once he was sure the patient was not going to fall he resumed the chase. McGee's attacker was now outside, cutting across the parking lot.

"Damn, damn, damn," DiNozzo chanted as he ran. If the man he was chasing had an accomplice waiting in a car out there, he had no chance of catching him. He put on burst of speed as they drew closer to the road, but he failed to gain any distance on the other man. By now the suspect was running out onto the road, looking back over his shoulder at the pursuing agent. DiNozzo saw the car a split second before the impact sent his suspect tumbling against the far curb. "No, no, no," his chant changed as he rushed across the road, barely giving a glance to the cars as they skidded to a stop. DiNozzo shoved Kate's SIG and his badge into his pockets as he dropped to his knees to check his prisoner's pulse. His stomach fell when he saw the open head wound but the man was still conscious. Tony bent over to look him in the eye.

"Why? Tell me why McGee, why did you go after him? Who set it up?" DiNozzo has seen enough head injuries and could tell that time was running out for answers from this man. He pushed harder. "Who did it? Who was your target? Talk to me, why did you try to kill McGee? Who are you covering for?"

"….i…son…"

Tony leaned closer, trying to hear. "Dickerson or Jamison, which one?" The faint pulse under his fingertips stuttered once then stopped. "No, damn it, don't you die on me. Not yet, you have to tell me." He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see several staff members from the emergency room running up to them. He scooted back to give them room to work. "He's our only lead, you can't let him die." Tony stood as the driver of the car came up to him.

"He just ran right out in front of me, I couldn't stop." Tony gave the woman a slight nod, his entire attention focused on the scene in front of him. More personnel arrived with equipment, but after twenty minutes, they called TOD. DiNozzo raked his fingers through his hair in frustration before digging his phone out. He would have expected Gibbs to call or track him down by now. Gibbs' phone went straight to voice mail, as did Kate's. He finished leaving a message on Kate's phone to call him right back when his own phone rang. Expecting Kate, he was surprised to see Abby on the display.

"Abby?"

_~Tony, what's going on? Gibbs called Ducky to a murder at Bethesda, but Ducky wouldn't tell me anything. Did something happen?~_

A knot started to form in his stomach as DiNozzo looked at the scene. There was no way Gibbs could see this from McGee's hospital room, the windows faced the wrong direction. None of the emergency staff out on the street had placed or received any calls since the suspect had died. He could only think of one other scenario that would bring the Medical Examiner to the hospital to retrieve a body in such a rush, but he still had to come up with an answer for Abby. He settled for honesty.

"I'm not with Gibbs, Abs, so I don't know what's going on." He disconnected the call before she could question him further. Pacing didn't really help anything, but it gave him some time to think. Two security guards from the hospital finally arrived and he immediately put them in charge of the accident scene so he could return inside.

Abby called again as he was waiting for the elevator. He didn't answer, choosing to blame the lack of signal in the metal box. The elevator arrived and as others entered, DiNozzo backed away. He did not want to be surrounded by strangers when he walked into the intensive care. He turned and walked to the stairs, retracing his route from before.

In sharp contrast to earlier, it was silent in the ICU when DiNozzo open the door and stepped out from the stairwell. The agent who had been watching McGee was sitting in a chair at the nurses' station, still being treated for his injuries. The hallway was empty, still littered with glass shards. One nurse stepped out of McGee's room, Tony recognized her as the one who had bravely defended his partner. She was limping and crying, not noticing him at first. When she turned and made eye contact, she began crying harder and quietly mouthed 'I'm sorry' before changing directions and walking away.

Whatever questions Tony may have had were silenced when the rest of the occupants of McGee's room walked through the door, surrounding a gurney. As they spread out in the hall, he could see the gurney clearly, but not the figure laying on it, covered with a sheet. Gibbs was just a few steps behind, physically supporting a bruised Kate who would not look up. Behind Tony, the service elevator doors opened and Ducky and Palmer stepped out. DiNozzo refused to acknowledge them, instead concentrating on the shrouded body and on Gibbs.

"Boss?"

Gibbs looked more exhausted than he had ever seen. "Let's take him home, Tony. Let's take him home."


	19. Chapter 19

**a/n - Wow, talk about feedback ;) Hopefully, you will like this chapter even better. Let me know.**

No one uttered a sound as the transfer was made from the hospital stretcher to the one belonging to Ducky's morgue. Tim's doctor followed the team as they entered the service elevator, he and DiNozzo on one side of the gurney, Gibbs and Todd on the other. Ducky and Palmer were at each end to handle moving it once the elevator reached the lower parking lot. When they reached the coroner's van, Gibbs yanked hard on the doctor's tie, bringing him close. "If there's a leak this time, I'll know it was you."

The doctor looked troubled, but kept calm. "It won't be me, you have my word." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead just turned and walked away.

"Boss?"

"In, DiNozzo." Gibbs steadied Kate as she climbed in the back of the van, and then looked pointedly at Tony. "Just get in, we're in a hurry." Between the stretcher, Gibbs, Tony, Kate and Ducky, it was a tight fit. Once the door closed on them, Gibbs turned to DiNozzo. "You lost him?"

"No." Tony pulled himself together to make his report, still staring at the sheet covered figure. "Bastard ran out in front of a car, killed him. Hospital security is holding the scene until a team gets there." He reached out to pull the sheet back, but Gibbs stopped him, pushing him down onto the bench at the same time.

"Not yet, Tony." Palmer stopped the van next to the car Gibbs and Kate had driven that morning. "Give Kate back her weapon." DiNozzo frowned in confusion but complied with the order as Gibbs directed his attention to Kate.

"Stay right on our ass. If a car tries to force its way in between us, shoot the tires out, you got that?" She nodded, checking the clip as he continued. "Don't forget the radio, heavy metal." She nodded again and jumped out the back door. Once she had the sedan backed out, Palmer put the van back into drive and continued through the parking lot.

Tony wanted to yell, to hit something, to ask a hundred questions. None of which he did; instead he sat and waited. Palmer again stopped, this time next to the sedan Tony had parked the night before. Gibbs reached out and grasped Tony's neck, bringing their heads together and whispered in his ear. "Ducky will explain when it's safe. For now, just give me the keys." He was up to a thousand questions, but instead he handed over the keys. A look passed between Gibbs and Ducky, and then Gibbs was gone.

Literally bumper to bumper, the three vehicles left the parking structure at Bethesda, the coroner's van sandwiched between two agency sedans. As soon as they cleared the hospital zone, Tony could hear strains of Black Sabbath coming from the car in back, while the car in front was practically vibrating with Waylon Jennings. He couldn't imagine either of the two willingly listening to the music they were playing. Up in the cab, Palmer slid a cassette in the player and turned it on loud. Both Tony and Ducky shuddered at the sound of Don Ho's Tiny Bubbles, Tony returned to staring at McGee's still form and it took two attempts from Ducky to gain his attention.

"It's time Tony, my lad."

Ducky pulled the sheet back as Tony watched. McGee was still on the backboard they used to support him during resuscitation, but his head was strapped down. The IV was still attached to his arm and tucked in beside him. That gave DiNozzo a glimmer of hope.

"Ducky, is he…" A hand over his mouth muffled the question he wanted so much to ask.

"Parabolic microphones, even with the music you can't be too careful these days." Ducky smiled as he whispered. Tony studied him for a long minute then slowly reached out and laid his fingers against Tim's carotid artery. It was slow and weaker than he would have liked, but it was there.

Suddenly short of breath, Tony leaned forward, his elbows braced on his knees, his head buried in his hands. He felt the weight of a comforting hand on his shoulder for a moment before Ducky returned to attending McGee. Rubbing his face, Tony let his emotions wash over him. The last five days had been worse than any he had ever experienced, topped by the experience of seeing the 'body' of his Probie being wheeled out and placed in the coroner's van. He'd just scratched the surface of what he wanted to teach the kid and the only thing keeping him sane this week was the knowledge that he had more time.

As the hurt shifted to the background and was replaced by anger, Tony finally looked outside to unfamiliar surroundings. He looked at his watch and discovered they had been driving for over an hour. Ducky seemed pleased with McGee's condition and moved to the window to lean in and talk to Palmer. Tony leaned forward and grasped Tim's hand. He didn't know how soon the younger man would regain consciousness, but was sure it would be disconcerting to wake up where he was.

Another hour of circling around the countryside and not even the best CIA trackers could have kept up with them. Apparently Gibbs agreed with DiNozzo's sentiments and he changed directions once again, the other two vehicles still following his lead. By the beginnings of the third hour, the streets were familiar as they arrived on the street where Gibbs lived. Palmer backed the van as far as possible into the driveway, scraping both the side and the roof on the overhanging trees. By the time he was done, they were not visible from the street and Gibbs was able to park the sedan in what looked to be a normal spot in the driveway. Kate parked the second sedan next to the sidewalk and watched the street as Gibbs and DiNozzo quickly carried the gurney into the house.

Under Ducky's direction, they laid the stretcher on the floor, next to the sofa, then transferred McGee to the sofa. As they worked, Kate came in through the front door, locking it behind her. She headed straight for the basement with Gibbs only a few steps behind her, barking orders as he went.

"DiNozzo, start moving furniture out of the dining room." Puzzled, he complied. Walking out of the room with two dusty chairs he watched as Gibbs and Kate piled rolled up tarps on the gurney, adjusting them to have the same shape and apparent volume as a body would. Next they covered it with the sheet, Palmer helping to adjust it, Kate making small talk with the nervous young man.

"So Palmer, how's your first week been?"

"It's been different." He adjusted the straps, loosening them so they didn't distort the fake 'body' underneath them. "It's not always this…" he struggled to find the right word, "exciting around here is it?"

"Of course not, sometimes it's far worse. Isn't that right, DiNozzo?" She turned to him with a sweet smile. Tony was so glad to see a spark of Kate's humor returning he had no choice but to play along.

"Oh, yeah, this week's nothing compared to what usually happens. Don't worry, kid, you'll get used to it." The seasoned members of the team shared a brief smile behind the back of Ducky's new assistant before they returned to their tasks. The rest of the dining room was cleared out and the windows were taped over with towels, blocking even the most persistent peeping tom. The gurney was loaded back in the van to be taken to autopsy. Kate and Gibbs swapped keys and the two vehicles pulled out of the driveway.

Shortly after nightfall, Palmer returned with an unmarked van filled with medical equipment. By the time they had the hospital bed assembled in the former dining room and McGee settled in it, Kate arrived back with Abby and a stack of Pizzas.


	20. Chapter 20

**a/n - everybody happy now? A short, transitional piece before we get back in the heavy action. Thanks again for all the feedback.**

"You okay?" Gibbs brought a bottle of water to Tony, who had been watching McGee sleep ever since dinner. If that wasn't an indication his senior agent was still upset, the fact that he only ate two slices of pizza was a dead giveaway.

DiNozzo took the offered bottle without even looking away. "I'm fine."

Gibbs gave a snort. "You don't look fine." He watched the other man for a moment before squeezing his arm. "I wish there had been another way to handle it today, but we couldn't risk anyone knowing McGee survived the attempt on his life, not even the nurses working on him."

"I know." He started to peel the label off the bottle. "It's just that all this week, ever since we found McGee, I keep thinking that… I'm the one supposed to be training him as a field agent. If I had spent as much time teaching him as I have teasing him, maybe none of this would have happened, maybe he would have noticed his attackers, maybe he could have found a way to escape."

"No, I don't think so, Tony." Gibbs wanted to give himself a head smack, remembering that DiNozzo was the only one who had not seen the surveillance tape from outside Guffy's that night. "Kate and I saw the attack on tape. There was no way for him to anticipate what was going to happen. Now, I'll sit with him for a while, Ducky wants to patch up that cut on your forehead." He waited until DiNozzo was on his feet before he continued. "You know where the sandpaper is; just remember to sand with the grain."

---NCIS---

Marine training never left a person. Leroy Jethro Gibbs was walking proof of that fact as he patrolled his home in the hours before dawn. Ducky slept upright in a chair next to the fireplace, an empty cup perched precariously in one hand. His incredibly green but surprisingly loyal new assistant was sleeping on the floor a few feet away. DiNozzo was sleeping in one of the straight back dining room chairs, leaning against the wall next to the entry to the former dining room. His SIG Sauer was in his hand, resting on his leg. Gibbs stepped carefully over his legs to not disturb him, but the mumbled 'hey Boss' reminded him Tony was much more aware than people gave him credit for. He nodded approvingly at the faint sawdust on DiNozzo's sleeves. They were a lot alike, he and Tony, and nothing was like physical exertion to burn away anger and frustration.

Once he was in the converted sick room he had to stop and smile. The two ladies of his motley crew were asleep on the floor, one on each side of the bed. Kate had put herself between McGee and the one weakness of the room – the large plate glass window. The multiple towels covering the glass meant that no one would see into the room, but it would do little to stop a persistent assailant. Gibbs made a mental note to check his lumber to see what he had to better barricade it. Until then, Kate had assigned that protection detail to herself. He saw the butt of her own SIG under the edge of the pillow she was using, and like DiNozzo, it was firmly in her grasp ready to use. Also like DiNozzo, she woke the moment he walked into the room. She made eye contact with him then settled back down. Abby slept through his arrival, but the nine iron she clutched in her sleep showed she was also ready to defend her friend if necessary. Gingerly he stepped over her, remembering an ex-wife showing him what a woman with a golf club could do to a man's head. McGee was still sleeping; a medicated sleep that Ducky said would last until midmorning. Gibbs straightened the blankets as he watched the young man sleep. It had been close, way too close, in the hospital the day before.

The faintest crunch of gravel caught his attention. Kate, he noted, woke instantly as did Tony outside the door. By the time he was out in the hall, Ducky was also awake. The doorknob rattled once before there was a faint knock. Gun at his side, Gibbs opened the door.

"Fornell."

"Gibbs." The other man stood, slump shouldered and exhausted looking. "I always wondered how bad it would have to be before you locked your door." Gibbs gave a terse nod and stepped aside to let him in. He looked past Gibbs and saw both DiNozzo and Todd alert and looking at him down the sights of their weapons.

The FBI agent walked through the hallway on his way to the basement, but Gibbs surprised him. "Coffee's in the kitchen. You look like you could use some. Fornell didn't answer, just detoured. Once he had poured himself a cup, he fell into the closest chair and dropped a manila folder on the table.

"My contact found this. It's encrypted, but maybe McGee…" He broke off and hung his head. "Damn it Jethro, I liked that kid of yours; he even made putting up with DiNutzo worth it." Fornell shifted and looked straight at Gibbs as he thumped his fingertips on the folder. "You take those bastards down hard, you hear me? The kid deserves justice."

Gibbs stared at him a long time. The Gibbs stare was something he was familiar with, but this time it was different. He held still, somehow knowing that his old friend was deciding something important. Behind them he could sense DiNozzo watching them just before he entered the kitchen. Gibbs shifted his attention to DiNozzo and Fornell watched the silent conversation between them. Eventually DiNozzo nodded and Gibbs stood up. "You need to see something." With no further explanation he walked out of the kitchen, folder in his hand.

Both curious and worried, Fornell followed, only to be brought up short by Kate who was suddenly nose to nose with him. He saw the bruises and the strain and backed down rather than confront her. "Agent Todd, it's good to see you again. I just wish it were under better circumstances."

She didn't say a word to him, but to Gibbs. "Are you sure?" She didn't move out of the way until she was satisfied with the look on Gibbs' face. It took a little longer for Abby Sciuto to back down with her nine iron, but eventually Fornell was allowed into the dining room. He stared at the sleeping figure for a long time, then squeezed Gibbs' arm once before he left.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/n - a short chapter for now because this is the way things worked out. Next chapter is practically done, but I probably won't post until tomorrow. both my sons have concerts today. The high schooler is performing in a few minutes and his brother is with the symphony tonight. Enjoy. **

"Welcome back, Timothy." Ducky leaned over to put himself in McGee's line of sight as the young agent awoke. Green eyes slowly cleared and looked around.

"Ducky, why is there a chandelier in my room?" Gibbs walked in at just that moment.

"You can thank my ex-wife for that one, McGee."

He turned his head and blinked some more, still not fully aware of his surroundings. "Your ex-wife decorates the hospital?" He continued to look around. "Wait, I'm not in the hospital, where am I? What happened?"

Ducky quietly slipped out and Gibbs pulled a chair up to the side of the bed. "One of your attackers tried to finish you off yesterday. Officially, he succeeded. You're at my place."

Tim took stock of how he was feeling. He was tired and hurting, a bit more of each than the last time he remembered. "Am I okay? What did they do to me? How'd they get past our security?"

Gibbs started with the last question first. "He was dressed as a doctor. Luckily, the nurses in the unit didn't recognize him and yelled out, but by then he was right up on Agent Miller, knocked him unconscious. He injected you with a drug to stop your heart. It was pretty touch and go until they gave you something to counteract it. Ducky can give you the medical details, but you're going to be fine. You're probably sore from the CPR, and you'll be feeling pretty weak for a while, but with everything else you may not notice the difference."

"I'm not going to have to delay my PT, am I?" Tim shifted and pulled himself a little bit more upright as he asked.

"Maybe you shouldn't push right yet, McGee."

"Boss, I can't just lay here." He found the bed controls and raised himself into a sitting position, ignoring the spinning of the room. "People are getting hurt trying to protect me. I have to do something."

Gibbs saw the dizziness, but he also saw the determination and was proud of it. "I'll talk to Ducky about your physical therapy. In the meantime, I have something else for you to work on as soon as Ducky gives you the okay." He patted the blanket covered leg closest to him as he stood up. "I'll send him in to check you over."

While Ducky was examining McGee, Gibbs walked into the living room where Kate and Abby were set up with the disc and files from Fornell. Abby was frowning at the laptop she was working on. "Well?" Kate shook her head while Abby began working her way up to a full rant.

"This is really hard core encryption, Gibbs. I can't even get past the first layer and who knows how many more layers there are after that." She sighed as she looked at him. "It's gonna be a while. How's Timmy?"

"Ducky is looking him over, but he seems pretty good, considering." The man in question came out of the temporary hospital room as they spoke. He didn't even wait for the inevitable questions.

"Under the circumstances, he's doing quite well. There's some bruising from the CPR yesterday, which is to be expected, but other than that, he seems to have come through the experience virtually intact."

Better than us, thought Gibbs as he looked around at the team scattered around the room. The tension was thick as they waited for either a break or another attack. They would never survive another attack on McGee, so they needed to break the case open. His gut was telling him the answers to why were hidden in those encrypted files Fornell had worked so hard to uncover. A plan started to develop that would possibly kill two birds with one stone.

"Abs, Kate, take all that to McGee and let him look through it. See what suggestions he has for you." He knew there would be objections and it didn't take long for them to be voiced.

"Gibbs, no, he's still too sick. He needs to rest, not worry about all this right now." Abby may have been upset, but Kate understood the reasoning behind his order.

"Abby, he needs a chance to feel like things will be normal someday, a chance to take back some control of his life. Tim's a genius at this kind of work, you said so yourself. If he wasn't hurt, he would be the one working on this, not us. He needs a reminder of that."

"Kate's right." He wrapped his arms around Abby and kissed the top of her head. "He'll probably only stay awake for a few minutes looking at it, but it'll make him feel like he's still part of the team."

"But he is, right?" She turned and looked at him questioningly. "He's still part of the team. We're not going to lose him, are we?"

"Not if I can help it, Abs." He pointed to the laptop. "The sooner we can get him to believe it, the better his chances are."

---NCIS---

While Kate and Abby reviewed what they had with McGee, Gibbs put Tony to work helping him fix lunch. Ducky snagged the first grilled cheese and bacon sandwich as it came off the stove and headed out the door. The sight of the proper Scotsman driving off in Gibbs' pickup gave both the other men a needed laugh. Once a stack of sandwiches were done and the soup was hot, they carried the food in and joined the three studying the mystery records.

"Hey, Boss." McGee looked tired as he expected, but he also looked more in control, as Gibbs had suspected. Instead of a verbal report of what they had found so far, McGee handed Gibbs a paper. He glanced at it and it looked more like a shopping list than anything to do with a connection to the CIA.

"What is this?" As he asked, Gibbs handed the injured man a mug of tomato soup, waiting to make sure he had a good grip before letting go.

Knowing it was expected, Tim drank down a few swallows of the soup before he answered. It may have been canned, but the soup was better than anything he had been fed in the hospital that week. "One laptop isn't powerful enough to break through that file. I can put something together that can work though." When Gibbs didn't immediately reply, just studied him, McGee tried to be convincing. "I can do this Boss, besides it will give me something to do other than staring at the ceiling all day. Your ex isn't that good of a decorator."

The rest of the group didn't understand the comment or the laugh it got from Gibbs, but they all felt the atmosphere lighten at his words.


	22. Chapter 22

**a/n - Thanks for all the feedback, you guys make my week. Extra thanks to alix who caught a mistake in the last chapter that I totally missed and it was even in my notes to myself!! I've fussed with this chapter for days. At this point it is either very good or very bad. I've looked at it too long to tell anymore, so tell me what you think - Emerald **

After lunch was finished, Gibbs wrote a note of his own and sent it along with Tim's shopping list. Kate and Abby hit a hardware store and two electronics stores before they arrived at NCIS. Abby went to gather the additional laptops and hard drives McGee had requested while Kate went straight to Tom Morrow's office. She handed him the note and filled the time with carefully planned small talk while he read over Gibbs' status report. Any operative that was listening in would have heard about the delays in locating the vacationing family of the late Timothy McGee and how any official announcement of his death would be delayed until they returned. A quick phone call the day before from a payphone to a retired agent near their hometown had taken care of that possible complication. As he wrote an update for Kate to return to Gibbs, Morrow carefully complained about needing to bring in a private cleaning company to clean his office. They were shorthanded since one of the newer janitors didn't show up for work that day. His raised eyebrow told her exactly what kind of cleaning his office needed. A quick glance at the hastily written note confirmed that their problems would not be over soon. The ambulance transporting the body of the suspect that had 'killed' McGee had never showed up with the body.

---NCIS---

Fornell pulled into the driveway just as Ducky was climbing out of the cab of the pickup. Ducky almost didn't recognize the man in jeans and a sweatshirt with a baseball cap pulled down low on his face. Fornell stayed still until he saw the other man relax and move his hand away from the small semi-auto he had tucked in his waistband. Gibbs' arrival on the back deck further helped and the three men quickly removed the tarp and unloaded what Ducky had hidden in the bed of the truck. Inside, DiNozzo was moving the desk and chair out of the den. Ducky pointed through the door as he spoke to Fornell. "Lay those poles on the floor in there, up against the wall for now. We need to lay out the floor mats first." Behind Fornell, Gibbs came in with a lightweight wheelchair, narrow enough to easily fit through the doorways in his older home.

Under Ducky's directions, they had the den converted into a small but functional PT room in less than an hour. While Ducky taught Tony how to help Tim with his stretches and strength building exercises, the two senior agents, moved to the basement for both the peace and the bourbon.

"Talk to me."

Fornell had learned not to be offended when Gibbs was short with him, especially under these circumstances. He did make the other man wait while he poured himself two fingers of the rotgut Gibbs kept in his basement. "You've got them running in circles and getting nervous, Jethro. Apparently, they couldn't get in to see McGee's body and his parents have fallen off the grid."

"Good, it's time to force their hand. I want this finished. How'd the Director keep them out of autopsy?" Gibbs sipped at his glass as he thought through their next steps.

"Actually, their first attempt was last night and your new coroner's assistant managed to stop that one." When Gibbs raised a questioning look, he continued. "He labeled McGee's drawer in autopsy as a contagious biohazard. They can't break the seal without being discovered."

Gibbs had to laugh. "Good for him. That kid just might have what it takes."

Finishing the last of his drink, Fornell set the jar down and dumped the screws back in it. "I found out the joint op you were supposed to have with the CIA was about something going on at the base that doesn't exist on Coiba Island."

"A base that doesn't exist. That should narrow it down." Despite his words, the clue Fornell had dropped was giving him a solid direction to look as they both knew. Fornell was half way up the stairs before he stopped.

"If we're right, then your Agent Todd probably wasn't the target after all."

He agreed. "She'll be relieved. Kate can't be effective when she's feeling this guilty."

"She's too compassionate for this line of work, Gibbs, it's going to get her killed one of theses days." With a final shake of his head, Fornell continued up the stairs.

When the other man left, Gibbs remained, sipping and thinking back to when Kate couldn't' kill Ari. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he had to agree with Fornell's assessment.

---NCIS---

While Kate was with the Director, Abby was working double time. Once she had all the components gathered for McGee and loaded in the car, she began pulling together all the test results from the evidence Gibbs had brought her earlier. She was just starting to gather the results when the elevator chimed. Quickly she slid the report into her bag, but Kate walked into the lab before Abby could close the door into her office.

Kate picked up on the other woman's distressed mood the moment she entered the lab. It reminded her of their odd conversation the morning before. Usually, Abby never looked guilty and she certainly was never nervous like this. Kate looked at her closely as Abby again tried to subtly block Kate's view into the office. "What don't you want me to see?"

"Nothing," even Abby's laugh sounded nervous. "You know how I like to keep my office neat and tidy and it's not right now because I worked all night and then we had to leave in a hurry so it's still a mess, that's all." She flinched under the hard stare.

"You lie worse than McGee." Kate may have been shorter, but she was more determined as she moved Abby out of the way and stepped into the office. All the evidence from Dickerson's shrine was laid out in there. "Oh my God, Abby… Abby, what is…"

There was no reason to hide it any longer. "It's all from a storage unit Dickerson had." Abby stood at Kate's side as the other woman studied the photos Dickerson had taken and the scraps of her life he had stolen. Some of the pictures had been taken with a telephoto lens through her bedroom window, while others were of her at various crime scenes and even on Secret Service details. Kate reached out, but didn't touch the missing glove. Half of the set her mother had given her when she had first joined the Secret Service. Without another word, she turned and rushed out of the office, stopping in the middle of the lab, Abby at her heels.

"I'm sorry, Kate. I hoped to be done with all of it before you got here."

"What did you discover?" Her question was met with silence and she turned to face Abby. "I'm going to find out anyways, just tell me."

Abby looked over Kate's shoulder, wishing Gibbs was there to walk through the door. "Dickerson's fingerprints were the only ones on all of it."

"And?"

"And…" Abby was stalling, she knew it and worst of all, Kate knew it.

"Just tell me, Abby."

"There was saliva on the pictures, and…"

Kate interrupted her on shock. "Saliva? He was licking them?" She realized Abby wasn't done. "What else?" When there was no response, she repeated herself. "What else, Abby?"

You would have had to be standing within inches of Abby to hear her words and Kate was. "Other… other bodily fluids, I'm sorry Kate."

"Oh, God." Kate bolted for the small restroom on that level. Abby started to follow, then stopped to give the distraught woman some privacy. Instead she called Gibbs to let him know what Kate had discovered as she gathered up the rest of what she needed to bring with her. Gibbs had decided to circle the wagons, so chances were they would not be returning to headquarters until they were ready to bring the ringleaders in.

---NCIS---

Gibbs closed his phone as he hung his head. He had hoped Kate would have never found out about Dickerson's little surprise, but it was too late now. While he waited for them to return, he moved closer to the doorway and watched the ongoing therapy. Tim was laying flat on the padded floor as he slowly raised his right leg and held it six inches off the ground. Tony counted to ten before Tim let his leg back down and began on the other side. Ducky looked on approvingly, while Tony was as drenched in sweat as their patient. He gave the two younger men a thumbs up before returning to the pile of parts that Ducky swore would become the parallel bars McGee would need soon. Staring at the diagram Ducky had given him, Gibbs came to one conclusion. As an engineer, Ducky made a fine doctor. Deciding to use his own design after Ducky left for the night, he moved to the French doors to wait for Kate and Abby's arrival. It had been a long day and the sun was almost down. Storm clouds were blowing in and the changes in pressure made his skin crawl.

---NCIS---

This was the first time Abby had ever driven one of the agency's sedans. Normally she would have enjoyed the experience, but the reason put a dampener on her mood. Kate had just handed her the keys and climbed into the passenger seat without a word. When they pulled into the driveway, Gibbs was watching. He came out of the house as Abby parked the car and grabbed her first box. Kate slowly got out of the car, her eyes never leaving Gibbs' face. The first few heavy raindrops fell as Abby walked into the house, reading his silent instructions to let them talk alone.

"You should have told me."

"There was no…"

"You should have told me." Kate shouted as the winds picked up, swirling the still dry leaves around her feet. "I'm not some child you have to protect, Gibbs. They did this to Tim because of me."

"We don't know that, Kate." Gibbs also had to raise his voice as the winds continued to increase and the skies opened up in a torrential downpour. "This is the CIA we're talking about, Kate. Nothing is the way it seems. What better way to cover up something than to set up another likely suspect?"

Kate raked her fingers through her sopping wet hair, forcing herself not to scream out her frustrations. "I have to know, Gibbs. One way or another, I have to know if I'm responsible."

"Why? Will it change anything?" He grabbed her arms, forcing her to face him. He couldn't tell how much of the moisture on her face was from the rain and how much was tears.

She tried to pull free of his grasp. "Damn it, it will to me."

"It's not about you, Kate. It's about McGee and what he needs." He stopped and looked up at the sky. "It's raining."

"What?" Kate couldn't keep up with the sudden change in his focus.

Gibbs remembered what Morrow had said about victims of waterboarding and things that would trigger panic attacks. "Damn it to hell, it's raining." Leaving Kate behind, he rushed to return to the house, already soaked to the skin.

---NCIS---

Once Ducky had deemed the therapy done for the day, he and Tony helped Tim into the wheelchair. Sitting upright was actually part of McGee's therapy, but he didn't mention that to the others. The rest of the team was so haunted by what had happened to their youngest member, they didn't need every single reminder of how far he had to go in his recovery. Neither man paid much attention to the start of the rainfall outside until Tim gasped and stiffened in the chair. As the rainfall increased, so did his breathing until he was hyperventilating. DiNozzo ran and brought back a paper bag which helped some, but there was no recognition in the wide green eyes. Tony was beginning to panic and even Ducky was feeling out of his element when Gibbs ran in, dripping wet. Not acknowledging any of the others in the room, he slid to a stop and dropped to his knees in front of McGee.

Trembling hands reached out and touched Gibbs' face. The stammering he was working so hard to overcome was back with a vengeance. "Bo… Boss, did… did they… get you… too? I heard… Did they… hurt you too?"

Behind them, Abby returned from delivering her load to the basement and watched silently, while Kate observed from just inside the French doors. Ducky saw that Gibbs knew what he was doing, and motioned for Tony to move back out of their way.

Gibbs mirrored Tim's actions, bringing his own wet hands up to touch McGee's face. He shuddered at the wet contact, but Gibbs didn't pull away until Tim was looking at him with some awareness. Once that happened, he removed his hands from Tim's face and slid them down his arms to grasp Tim's hands. He kept his voice low and even as if he was trying to calm a frightened child.

"No, Tim, no one is here to hurt us. We're safe, it's just the rain. It's all right, I'll show you." It was awkward, but he managed to stand at McGee's side and still push the wheelchair to the still open door. Gibbs unlatched and opened the other side of the double doors, making room for him to stand next to the wheelchair at the edge of the deck. He took one of Tim's hands again and extended their joined hands out to feel the rain. When the younger man stopped flinching at the feel of the raindrops hitting his hand, Gibbs moved the wheelchair further out onto the deck, ignoring the gasp from Ducky.

Once he had the wheelchair on the deck, Gibbs shifted so his body blocked the worst of the rain, allowing just a sprinkling to hit the ailing man. Tim stared at Gibbs for a long time, and then tilted his face up into the rainfall, closing his eyes. Gibbs smiled encouragingly as he continued to speak softly. "That's it, Tim. It's just the rain and it's not going to hurt you. Take a deep breath, that's it. See, it's raining and you can still breathe.

tbc...


	23. Chapter 23

**a/n - sorry for the delay, the doctors gave the all clear for my son to come home, so I had to go get him. Also got to see him perform with a different symphony. The last chapters should be up over the weekend, depending on how many interruptions I have. My son is appearing tonight at a benefit concert for one of his former students who has bone cancer. Thanks for all the wonderful feedback, I love getting each and every one. BTW, the first 6 chapters of my next story are done and ready to start posting as soon as I am done posting this one. - Emerald**

Early dawn found Abby in the kitchen scrambling eggs. She and Kate had dug through every cupboard and found a large skillet that apparently had been left behind by an ex-wife. The loose handle showed why, but she made do with it. As Kate finished the last of the toast, Abby covertly watched the other woman. She seemed calmer this morning, as if the previous evening had been cathartic to her somehow.

Abby was sure she would never forget seeing Tim like that, lost in the few bits of memories he retained from the days of abuse he had suffered. She hadn't had a clue how to help him that night, but luckily Gibbs had been there and had known exactly what to do. Surprisingly, Kate had been the first one to recover from the shock and had blankets and towels warmed in the dryer by the time Gibbs brought Tim back inside. Dry and warm, the young man had fallen into an exhausted sleep that had, amazingly, lasted all night. Sleep had been late and fleeting for the rest of them.

The sound of uneven footsteps in the hall proclaimed the arrival of DiNozzo. Still rubbing his face and with his hair ruffled he looked more like an unruly six year old than a federal agent. Kate bit back a laugh and dug a brush out of her bag. "Here, if Gibbs sees you looking like that, you'll never hear the end of it." Abby didn't even try to hide her amusement as she poured a coffee and added a generous amount of sugar to it for him. Tony gave a careful look at his companions. No make-up, hair limp and unstyled, both of them wearing oversized t-shirts and sweatpants probably salvaged from Gibbs' rag pile, they both looked like orphaned waifs. He took both the offered hairbrush and sweetened coffee. "Yeah, well pot, kettle, ladies. Have either of you looked at yourself in the mirror today."

Kate raised her eyebrow and opened her mouth to give him a scathing retort, but then Ducky walked into the kitchen. The look on Kate's face caused Tony to turn around. The slight comb over the older man had going had become more of an off-kilter mohawk overnight, offset only by the purple and green plaid boxers he wore. DiNozzo raised his arms slightly, trying to think of a tactful way to offer the brush.

"Thank you Tony, you're a good lad." Ducky took the coffee out of DiNozzo's hand and turned to retrace his steps, passing Gibbs in the hall.

Gibbs entered the kitchen fully dressed, combed and shaved. His tan shirt was wrinkle free, the twill slacks he favored looked to be freshly pressed, the creases sharp. He gave the three of them an apprising look before smirking and retreating with a full cup of coffee.

Kate glared at his back as he left. "Some days I hate that man."

---NCIS---

Fed and clean, the team scattered to the various corners of Gibbs' home to continue working the case. Abby and Tony were in the basement going through the rest of the tapes he had pulled from every possible route from Guffy's to where McGee had been held and tortured. Under McGee's careful supervision, Kate was assembling the system he had designed to crack the encrypted files Fornell had brought them. Meanwhile, since Ducky had left to check on his mother, Gibbs was busily putting together his own interpretation of the parallel bars.

"Umm, Gibbs?" Kate's whispered interruption luckily came as he was tightening the last of the bolts. He looked up at her as she stood in the doorway, her hands full of cords and wires. "Help."

Timothy McGee's patience was legendary, even in the few short months he had been stationed at Headquarters. Gibbs quickly realized the true extent of that patience as McGee slowly explained to he and Kate how to run the wiring he needed. It was almost lunchtime before they had assembled everything according to the young man's specs. It was DiNozzo that summed it up perfectly, much to Gibbs' chagrin.

"Wow, Boss, it looks like a pasta factory and a computer store had a love child in here."

After four and a half hours crawling around on the floor, relearning everything he thought he knew about electronics, Gibbs didn't even have the energy to deliver the whack DiNozzo was expecting.

---NCIS---

Lunch arrived with Ducky just a few minutes before 1300 hours. Drained, the team was happy for the break. Abby and DiNozzo had pulled over three dozen shots from the video that she wanted to try cleaning up. Everyone knew it was a long shot, but one worth the effort. McGee had promised to install the programs she would need into the computer system he was using. Ducky and DiNozzo had insisted that his therapy continue no matter what information he discovered, so she could use the system during his physical therapy or while he was resting.

Once McGee was finished with the installation, Kate and Abby retreated to the computer corner to begin on the images. DiNozzo took McGee in to start stretching while Ducky pulled Gibbs to the side. "Timothy's parents are at Headquarters."

Gibbs hung his head. He'd been hoping to keep them totally out of the situation entirely. "Has the Director convinced them they shouldn't see him right now, that it could be dangerous for everybody?"

"They will be dressed as delivery people, so if we need anything else, that is going to be how it is brought in." Ducky had a slight smile on his face. "Mrs. McGee is a force to be reckoned with. 'Stubborn as a mule' is what I believe the Director said."

Gibbs couldn't help but return the smile. "Well, at least now we know where McGee gets it. All right, whatever additional equipment we need will be called in by 1700 hours. We'll plan on the 'delivery' about 1900 hours. Better make sure the truck looks like they're delivering something that needs assembling, otherwise there won't be enough time for them to visit. No matter what, it will have to be short."

"Understood, Jethro. I see that you finished the parallel bars for Timothy, even if they don't quite match up with my diagrams." Ducky patted him on the back as he walked away to join Tony in assisting Tim with his exercises.

---NCIS---

"What are they doing?" Tony leaned over to whisper in Gibbs' ear. "Any ideas?" Gibbs would have answered, but a furniture delivery truck began backing into the driveway. At the sound, Kate and Abby scooped up their make-up and dumped it all in the nearest bag. His bruises now darker than before, Tim nodded his thanks and rolled his wheelchair to the center of the living room to wait. His mother was the first to enter, shoving a box at DiNozzo and heading straight for her son. Tim's father paused at the door, next to Gibbs.

A gentle hand brushed across Tim's face before he could stop her. "Mom, careful, don't smear my bruises."

"You mean they're not real? Oh thank goodness, I was so worried." She stared at the dark smudges on her fingertips.

"Really Mom, I'm fine. We just have to pretend a little longer" The young man held still, hoping his mother would be convinced by the subterfuge.

"So you're not really hurt at all?"

"Just a couple of cracked ribs, Mom, so no hard squeezing, okay?"

Nodding, she settled for a kiss to the top of his head. Inwardly, Tim gave a sigh of relief. If his mother knew just how badly he had been injured, she would be settled in for the duration. He decided to distract her further. "So is Sarah looking forward to her senior year in high school? What classes did she sign up for?"

As he knew it would, the change in topic shifted her from worried mother to proud mother as she happily told him about his sister's achievements over the last few months.

Out in the hallway, Gibbs watched the exchange along side Commander McGee. The elder McGee gave him a hard look. "He's lying through his teeth, isn't he? So the agency doesn't want us to really know what happened to our boy?"

"It was Tim's decision about what to tell you."

"Then I can assume he's still in danger? What are you doing about it?"

"I protect my people, Commander McGee."

"If that were the case, we wouldn't be here having this conversation, would we?"

Without waiting for an answer, Tim's father walked into the living room and greeted his son. Gibbs remained in the hall; it took all of his Marine training not to show just how much those words had hurt.

The visit was much too short for Tim's parents, but way too long for his teammates. Once the door closed behind them, Ducky took the handles of the wheelchair and turned McGee towards his room. As tired as he obviously was, McGee held on to the wheels, preventing the chair from moving. "No, not yet Ducky."

Ducky started to argue, but a hand up from Gibbs stopped him. Instead, Gibbs squatted down in front of the wheelchair and reached out to pat his knees. "Tim, you've been upright almost the entire day. It's time for you to get some rest now."

"Boss, I found it."

"What?"

Now that he had the older man's attention, McGee was able to relax a bit and leaned back in his chair. "I broke through the files. I don't know who was behind it yet, but I do know what they were doing."

"Really?" A slow grin spread on his face. Gibbs was more than ready for some answers as to why this had happened.

The returning smile he received was a bit more impish than he had seen since this nightmare started. "Yeah, but if it's past my bedtime, then I suppose it'll have to wait until morning."

DiNozzo started laughing behind them. Gibbs shook his head as he wagged his finger at the younger man. He came up with a retort, but suddenly couldn't get it past the lump in his throat as he remembered his little girl trying to stay up past her bedtime all those years ago. To cover his momentary lapse, he stood, but it was Tony's teasing comment that truly gave him time to recover.

"Aww, Dad, it's not a school night. Can't Timmy and I stay up a little longer, please?"

"Besides, we have pie." Everyone turned at McGee's last comment.

Gibbs was the first to respond. "Pie?" A pointing finger turned Gibbs towards one of the boxes brought by the faux delivery crew.

"Care package from my mom. Pies, cookies, homemade cinnamon rolls, the works. Peach pie doesn't last too long so we should probably start with that one, but we really need ice cream." Before he finished, Gibbs was on the phone.

"Hey Fornell, you anywhere near a grocery store?"


	24. Chapter 24

**a/n - It may not be totally clear at the end of this chapter, but that's okay. The gang is pretty confused right now too, but the first step in unraveling the plot is underway.**

Tobias Fornell glared at his own reflection as he unlocked his car, juggling the two bags of ice cream. Tracking down the fingerprints he understood. The details about the Deputy Director and the encrypted files were also understandable, but ice cream? Well, Gibbs was going to have to put up with his favorite flavors.

By the time he arrived at Chez Gibbs he was still undecided about what this latest request meant. As usual, he had several guns pointed at his face before he was fully accepted into the inner sanctum. Not even that fazed him anymore, but he was a bit unsettled by being met by Gibbs clutching an ice cream scoop. Who would have guessed the man was so serious about his frozen treats? The lab specialist standing behind Gibbs with a large kitchen knife sealed the deal and he shoved the bags at Gibbs without stepping foot in the kitchen. Gibbs took the bags, but addresses Abby.

"Is the pie all dished up?"

"Just waiting for the ice cream, Bossman." She tossed the knife onto the counter and took both the scoop and the bags, peering into them as she did. "Ohh, both French vanilla and butter pecan… rocky road. Who puts rocky road on pie?"

"Come on Abby, hurry up so we can know why." DiNozzo stuck his head in the kitchen.

Fornell blinked in confusion. "Why? Pie?"

DiNozzo deliberately misunderstood Fornell's confusion. "Because we're hungry."

"Come on." Gibbs took pity on the other man as he slapped Fornell on the back. "McGee found something in the files. I thought you'd like to be here to hear what it is."

"Already? Damn, the kid works fast. I didn't even think he'd be upright yet. Is he up to doing this?" Fornell took the plate Abby handed him and followed Gibbs into the living room, stepping carefully over the wires and cables spread across the floor. He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment, instead concentrating on not tripping.

McGee had been moved to the large recliner and tucked in with several blankets. He looked tired, but pleased with himself. Fornell took the chair to his left, leaving the other chairs for Gibbs and Ducky. The rest of the group settled on the floor, all of them within arms reach of their friend.

"Whenever you're ready, McGee, and you be sure to rest when you need to, okay? We've got time." Gibbs may have sounded gruff, but he couldn't hide the worry totally.

"Actually, Boss, we don't have a lot of time. That's why they were so adamant about stopping us. They've been setting this up for almost a year, but they need another forty-eight hours to pull it off." McGee stopped to catch his breath. When Ducky leaned forward to check on him, he raised his hand to stop him. "I'm okay, just give me a minute." Tony handed him a cup of tea, helping him hold it as he took a few sips. When Tim nodded, he set the cup down and waited with the rest of them.

"You were right, Fornell. There was a base that didn't exist. Actually to be technical, there were two bases that didn't exist. There was one that didn't officially exist and one that didn't even unofficially exist. That's how they were going to get away with it."

Gibbs and Fornell exchanged blank looks, and then Gibbs looked around the room. No one seemed to be following yet. "I'm afraid you're going to have to spell it out for us, Tim. McGee smiled knowingly and finished his last few bites of pie.

"They were really clever, almost got away with it, too." He pointed at the screen as he scrolled through pages of financial records. "Did you see it?" When he continued to get blank looks he backed up and scrolled through again, even slower this time. This time DiNozzo spoke up.

"Well I'm glad no one else is seeing it, because otherwise I'd feel really stupid right about now. I think you're going to have to point it out a little better for us, Probie." McGee chuckled at the murmured agreements surrounding him and then carefully started highlighting the lines of importance.

"Now do you see?"

"It's just a typo, Timmy." Abby spoke gently, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

McGee knew he was right and pressed on. "No, it's not. Look, they both exist. Cebaco and Coiba are both islands just south of Panama, but the names are so close that…"

"They are almost interchangeable and would pass for a simple typo at first glance." Gibbs saw the beginnings of where he was coming from, but still wasn't sure where he was going. McGee turned and looked directly at Gibbs.

"The annual operational budget for the CIA is over one thousand pages long. The Cebaco base and the Coiba base are never in the same subsection, so anyone who was skimming through it would assume it was one in the same."

"But neither one actually exist?" Kate shook her head. "I'm afraid you lost me, Tim."

"You're right, officially neither one exist. Coiba is a secret base run by the CIA and is what we would have been investigating with them if I hadn't been attacked. They were worried because they didn't have time to forge the paperwork for some of the shipments this month. That made it too big of a risk for them along with what they were sneaking through under the guise of Cebaco. All they needed was a few extra hours to complete the false paper trail and it would have been undetectable."

"So why not just stall for a few hours, why hurt you?" Abby scooted closer and rested her cheek on McGee's knee.

"There was a rat." When his teammates snorted in laughter, he had to laugh with them before he explained further. "No, really. The computer network they were using at Langley crashed because a rat chewed through some of the wiring. It was a low priority fix because no one was supposed to be using it and they couldn't risk transferring their information through normal channels.

"So, it was all about the money?" Tony was furious. All this pain and torment for what, some embezzled funds? "Why spend days hurting you, why kill their own people, why risk an attack at the hospital? It doesn't make sense, how much money are we talking about?"

This time McGee's laugh had a bitter tinge to it. "So far they've managed to net about four hundred thousand, but the big payoff is in that forty- eight hour window I told you we had."

"How much?" Gibbs was even angrier than DiNozzo. The younger man was still turned towards him and Gibbs reached out and rested his hand on McGee's arm. "Damn it, how much money are we talking about, McGee?" He needed to know the price these animals had put on his agent's head.

McGee pursed his lips, knowing how bad his discovery was and how much somebody at the CIA was willing to do to keep it hidden. "In exactly forty-three hours a plane will land in Cebaco carrying two hundred million in untraceable bearer bonds. We have that much time to stop them, but we still don't know who they are. All we have are the disposable ones, not the people who really count. Even if we stop that plane from making the drop, we still won't have the ones that ordered what happened to me."

Gibbs squeezed the arm underneath his hand. "Then we're got forty-three hours to find them."

"And make them pay?"

"And make them pay." Kate and Tony answered Abby's question in stereo before Gibbs could say anything.


	25. Chapter 25

**a/n - there was a slight mistake in cpt 22 that has been corrected. I'm slowing down not because of any writing problems, but because it is so darn hot here. 106 yesterday, and expected to hit 107 today, tying an all time record. Usually highs here are around 80 this time of the year. Thanks for all the comments and reviews, I love them all. We are coming close to the end of this epic, but maybe not as close as you would like with this chapter. Yep, another cliffhanger. Enjoy while I try to keep cool.**

Gibbs took Fornell and retreated to the basement to give McGee a semblance of privacy as Tony and Ducky helped him settle into bed. There were still a lot of questions to be answered, but the young man had hit the end of his endurance.

"Is he right?" Gibbs was uncomfortable asking, but the agent in him needed the verification. Fornell looked up from the pages McGee had printed for him.

"It's brilliant and devious. The GAO last year put in new protocols to safeguard against somebody stealing funds by doubling up on something in the budget. They have a computer program to scan for abnormalities and items that are listed more than once in the budget. That's why they couldn't just double the budget for the operation on Coiba Island; the computer would have caught it."

"So there's no human oversight?" Gibbs had never been impressed with using computers over people.

Fornell knew exactly what Gibbs was thinking. "Actually, there is, and that's the beauty of their plan. McGee only showed us the pages these expenses were listed on, right?"

"Yeah…" Gibbs wasn't sure where the FBI agent was going with his explanation.

It wasn't often he had the upper hand in figuring something out, and Fornell was enjoying the moment. "He showed us pages 106, 328, and 895 in a document that was over eleven hundred pages long. Even separating those pages out, we didn't see it. When he pointed it out, we thought it was nothing but a typo."

Now Gibbs got it. "The computer check assumes that anything so blatant like a fake base would be picked up by the accountants. The accountants looking at it aren't looking for something so subtle as the slight name change between two islands that have practically the same spot on the map; they assume that the computers will pick up on something like that."

Fornell laid out a map of the area Abby had pulled up for them and printed. "Not only that, look at the flight paths. A plane going to either island would file the same flight plan. By the time they would change for the last couple of miles…"

"They would drop below radar for final approach. There could have been a hundred flights scheduled for Coiba that actually landed on Cebaco and no one watching the agency would have known the difference." Gibbs finished for him.

"Exactly." Fornell continued to flip through the pages McGee had given him. "They started out with small amounts of money and weapons they could sell on the black market." He looked up with a frown. "The weapons are what tripped them up. Some of them were used in a guerrilla attack on a Navy base. That's what triggered the investigation you people were supposed to conduct."

Gibbs thought back to what Tim had said about the damaged wiring at Langley as he pieced the last few clues together. "There had to be a lot of daily planning and orders to get that much money into play. They were using an old, secondary network that wasn't being monitored and it went down before they could totally cover their tracks. Two hundred million dollar payoff was too much to just walk away from, so the only thing left to do was to stop the investigation by attacking the team investigating."

"How did they get that much money into play without attracting attention within the agency is what I don't understand. Somebody had to sign off on it." Fornell looked at the photos Gibbs had pinned up on the wall of everyone whose fingerprints had shown up at the site of McGee's attack. "Something else I don't get is why they didn't even attempt to cover their tracks."

DiNozzo and Todd came down the stairs in time to hear the last of the conversation. Kate came over to sit with the two men while Tony walked over to the mounted photos. "Well, these two were disposable." He pulled down the pictures of Dickerson and Adams, the man who died after trying to kill McGee at the hospital.

Kate shook her head. "More money for the rest of them."

"Say that again, Kate." DiNozzo grinned at the rest of them. Gibbs returned the grin, realizing where he was headed.

"More money for the rest… of course, let the lackeys get themselves killed off before they get their share of the money."

"Our missing player was careful to not leave any fingerprints or DNA evidence and is high enough in the CIA to sign for that kind of money."

"Hayes." The answer to Gibbs came in stereo from his two agents, but Fornell had a question for the three NCIS agents.

"Now how are we going to prove it?"

---NCIS---

Morning brought a new day and a new plan. By daybreak teams were in place to pick up every surviving CIA operative on their list. Kate and DiNozzo had personally picked Brian Byers, whose fingerprints had been found on the bucket used in the waterboarding of their young friend. Agents from both Balboa's and Sykes' teams were in place to pick up the rest of the players.

Gibbs and Fornell were stationed outside the country home of Deputy Director Hayes. With any luck, the listening equipment Fornell had brought would pick up someone warning Hayes, this giving them the proof they needed. Under protest, Abby had gone to the Yard that morning with the disc of images she and Kate had enhanced. With any luck the higher quality plasma screen would yield even more details about the mystery person that had so far eluded them. Ducky had arrived well before dawn to watch over the still sleeping McGee as the rest of the team left to find justice.

Balboa's team reported back to Gibbs within the hour. The agent they had been sent to apprehend had been taken into custody without incident. Not a single shot was fired, not one punch was thrown. Gibbs didn't comment on the disappointment he heard in the other agent's voice. His phone had barely disconnected before a call came in from Sykes. His team was much happier since their suspect had tried to run, forcing them to add in resisting arrest.

Unfortunately, the news from Todd and DiNozzo was not so good. They had arrived to an empty house; Byers was nowhere to be found. As Gibbs and DiNozzo formulated a plan, Fornell's phone rang. Fornell's alarm interrupted them and Gibbs turned to face him, holding the phone so Tony could also hear.

Fornell didn't pull any punches. "Local LEO's are on their way to your place. The neighbors reported multiple shots fired."

A muffled expletive and a yell for Kate to get in the car was all Gibbs heard over the phone before DiNozzo hung up. A hand over his stopped him before he could fire up the engine.

"We're too far away to help him, Jethro."

Gibbs leaned forward, resting his head on the steering wheel. "Damn it to hell, damn it to hell."

It was the longest five minutes before Fornell's phone rang again. He listened silently, then closed his phone as he repeated the message to Gibbs. "The house was abandoned by the time they got there, but there's a blood trail leading out the back."


	26. Chapter 26

**a/n - Gee, you guys don't like cliffhangers? This part is short, but really stands alone. I could either post it separate, or wait another day or two and combine it with the next part. I'm assuming you'd rather have it now. Thanks for all the comments and feedback. It cooled off today here in the steamy Northwest - after two days at 106, we're ready for cool. Of course I'm not sure when I started to consider 94 cool.**

Ducky finally closed and locked the door behind the last member of the team to leave. Flying under the radar as they were meant there was no one around to back them up at moments like this, but with any luck McGee would be able to rejoin the land of the living after today. He felt the weight of the compact Beretta secure in its belt holster, where it had resided since they had removed Timothy's 'body' from the hospital. Gibbs insistence that all of them were armed at all times was understandable given the circumstances, but he would be glad to rid himself of the weapon when this was over.

He fixed a light breakfast for his patient of toast and juice before waking the young man up. McGee looked tired, but woke easily, pushing himself upright rather than using the bed controls. "Have they already left?"

"Yes, a few minutes ago." Ducky steadied him as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. "If all goes according to plan, they should have this wrapped up in time for lunch. After a few minutes McGee handed back the empty glass and brushed the crumbs off his sweatpants. The transfer to the wheelchair and then to the parallel bars had become easier with the passage of each day. As Tim made the slow, painful trek back and forth Ducky looked through the gap in the curtain, noticing a nondescript car slow as it drove down the street. He moved closer to the window and watched as it turned around and pulled to the curb in front of the house.

"Come, lad, we must hurry." He wrapped Tim's arm over his shoulder and tried to support him as much as he could. "It appears that we are about to have company."

McGee hurried as best he could as Ducky led him to the back of the house. As the front door exploded into splinters, they dove into the kitchen. A burst of automatic gunfire went through the hall and living room. From behind the kitchen island, Ducky watched as bullets ripped through his coat draped over a chair, wincing at the metallic ping that told him his cell phone was the first victim of the day. As their attacker moved further down the hallway, he grabbed McGee and hauled him towards the back of the house.

Yelling and the stomping of feet told them they had been discovered. Ducky increased his speed as much as he could, considering how much taller and heavier McGee was. A hand fumbling at his waist reminded him of the gun he was carrying for protection.

Tim's head was swimming; it had been a while since he had moved this fast. He was confused, but the one thing he did know was that he was sick of it. He was sick of his friends having to rescue him, having to take care of him, to feel guilty over him, to risk their lives for him. Gibbs had made it plain to anyone who had stopped long enough to listen; McGee would always have a place on his team no matter how long it would take him to recover. That moment was now, he decided, as he pulled the semi-auto from Ducky's belt and aimed instinctively, like he'd been taught at FLETC. Even with Ducky pulling him, he hit his target, staggering the man and giving them time to make it to the door. Their attacker made it out the door just as Ducky was shoving Tim up into the passenger seat of Gibbs' pick-up truck. As the older man dashed around to the driver's side, McGee fired off a few more rounds, forcing the man to fall back and take cover.

The driveway was blocked by the car their attacker had driven, so Ducky floored it and drove them through the neatly pruned hedge dividing Gibbs' property from his neighbor's. By the time he had the truck safely on the street, they had destroyed most of the neighbor's lawn and decapitated several yard gnomes. As they passed the still parked car, Tim fired his remaining rounds, flattening one tire and giving them enough time to make their escape. They were too far away to see the second car pull up and retrieve the injured man, but luckily their assailants could not see them either.

"My, that was quite exhilarating." Ducky was pleased with their escape as he turned to his passenger. "Are you all right, Timothy? That was rather strenuous for you I believe."

"I'm fine." McGee was watching for any sign of a tail as he tried to catch his breath. As he calmed, the young man had to smile. When it came to it, he had come out swinging, defending both himself and Ducky from an armed assailant. For the first time since he awoke in that field he felt empowered. He recognized a shortcut Gibbs had taken once and pointed it out. "Turn there; we need to get to the Yard before he can call in reinforcements. Do you have your phone?"

"No, I'm afraid our friend back there turned it into a piece of metallic Swiss cheese. I believe yours in still in an evidence bag, is it not?" Ducky had noticed the change in McGee's demeanor, but did not comment on it. Instead, he concentrated on driving as McGee carefully observed the traffic around them and set out a path for them that assured no rogue CIA agents could sneak up on them.


	27. Chapter 27

**a/n - Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews. Not all of this chapter was planned, but we've had some folks in this epic that deserved to poke their heads back in. Depending on how I separate it out, we should have 2 or 3 chapters left. Maybe 4 if I ramble :)**

Kate had her door open before DiNozzo brought the car to a complete stop in the middle of the road. Both she and Tony counted on their agency jackets to give them quick passage into the crime scene that was the Gibbs home. Tony's long legs gave him the advantage and he reached the detective in charge first.

"What have you got?"

The detective leaned back slightly away from the agent suddenly in his face, but he didn't call the man on his pushy behavior. He knew the house behind him belonged to a member of this man's agency. 'Not much yet, lots of rounds fired, somebody was hit, but we haven't found a body yet so the victim must still be mobile." He walked them to the side yard so they could see the damage. "Somebody left here in quite a hurry, but the neighbor didn't see anything. She said she ran and hid in the basement when the shooting started."

"Gibbs' truck is gone." Kate's quiet comment gained the attention of both DiNozzo and the detective. DiNozzo grinned when he realized the truck was the vehicle responsible for the damage. The detective frowned as he referred back to his notes.

"Gibbs, that's the agent that owns the place, right? Any enemies in particular we should be looking for?"

DiNozzo used his most winning smile as he broke the news. "Yeah, look, we appreciate your help here and your quick response, but this is now a NCIS case, so…"

"Now wait a minute," the detective was not ready to step back. "Somebody shot up your agent's house and terrified an entire neighborhood. You can't expect me to just walk away from that without a damn good reason to tell my watch commander. Now, what the hell went down here?"

Kate grabbed them both by the elbows and started marching them inside. "We don't know how big of ears are out here, boys, so let's go inside, shall we?" When DiNozzo didn't argue with her, the detective went along until they were inside.

"Okay you two, talk." He waited while a silent conversation seemed to take place between the two agents. It only took a few seconds, and then they turned to him.

DiNozzo looked pained as his attention bounced between the detective in front of him and the bullet holes around him, but his words were short and to the point. "We're chasing rogues from another agency; our witness was staying here. Believe me; you don't want to get in the middle of this."

The detective looked around as he began to understand how over his head he was. "On a scale of one to ten, how bad is your case?"

After another glance, DiNozzo spoke again. "Oh, about a twelve, what would you say, Kate?" She was taking samples already of the bloodstains, but paused when she looked up.

"Since they are willing to kill their own people to cover up what they're doing, I'd consider it more about a fourteen, myself."

Whatever bravado the detective may have been wanting to show quickly evaporated when he realized they weren't joking. He was less than six months away from retirement, too close to get himself in between warring federal agents. "You want us to just walk away?"

"Actually, we want you to escort us to the Navy Yard." Both men turned at Kate's words. She had moved on from the bloodstains and was standing at the computer station McGee had set up. All the files and research were exactly where they had been left and the computer tower appeared to be intact. Neither she nor DiNozzo breathed comfortably until they left their escorts at the gates of the Navy Yard.

---NCIS---

Sykes sent their prisoner up with two of his people, relaxing as the elevator door closed behind them, giving him a moment of privacy. The hardest part of being a team leader was not having someone to lean on at times like this. His team was down a man, Miller had not yet returned to duty from the concussion he'd suffered when McGee was attacked in the hospital. He understood why Morrow and Gibbs were playing this so close to the vest, but not knowing for sure if Gibbs' young agent was dead or alive was haunting all of them, especially Miller, his own rookie.

The sound of Gibbs' old truck pulling into the garage brought him from his musings He was a little surprised to see the medical examiner behind the wheel, but what absolutely floored him was the passenger smiling through the windshield at him.

---NCIS---

Fornell closed his phone just in time to hear the tail end of the conversation Gibbs was having with DiNozzo.

"No, don't put out a BOLO, we can't risk the CIA picking up on it. No, I don't know why they haven't called. Get everything to Abby, and then we'll decide what to do."

He turned to Fornell as he disconnected the call. "Byers' car is sitting in front of my house with the tires shot out and my truck is missing." The grin of relief was immediately echoed on Fornell's face.

"Ducky got him out of there? Thank God." He slapped Gibbs on the shoulder. "I've got a team I trust on the way. As soon as they arrive we can start looking for your missing people."

---NCIS---

Sykes pulled the truck door open before the truck was at a complete stop. "Damn, kid, you're a sight for sore eyes." He half helped, half lifted McGee out of the truck and enveloped the young man in a hug, pounding him on the back as he did. Ducky quickly filled him in on the details of their adventure as they moved into the safety of the building. They didn't stop until they were tucked in the private office next to autopsy. Abby came at a dead run when Ducky called her, Tom Morrow arrived only a few minutes later.

"Are you all right, son?"

McGee tried to peel Abby off him long enough to answer Director Morrow. "So far, sir."

Morrow smiled at the scene as Ducky helped extricate McGee from a well deserved Abby hug. Whatever he had planned on saying to the young man was interrupted when the rest of Sykes' team rushed into the room, followed by all the members of Balboa's team. He gave them a few minutes to enjoy the resurrection before chasing them all out to allow Dr. Mallard a chance to examine McGee.

---NCIS---

"Tony, look." Kate came to a stop as she stared at the truck in the underground garage. Behind her, DiNozzo let out a whoop.

"Alright, it looks like the Duckman and the Probie got here all right. Let's go drop this stuff off with Abby and then go find them. Abby's lab was silent, but down the stairs they could hear the rumble of multiple voices. Following the sounds, they arrived in autopsy to find a crowd. Miranda Carter, from Balboa's team, rushed up and threw her arms around Tony's neck.

"He's alive. We didn't know what to think when no one was allowed to see the body, but it's true, he's alive."

DiNozzo staggered back from the impact, carefully loosening her grasp on his neck. She was a beautiful woman, but at the moment, he was more interested in his Probie, loathe as he was to admit it.

Gibbs entered the room at a dead run, a wide-eyed Fornell at his heels. Morrow grinned at the sight and pulled the FBI agent to the side. "Gibbs made good time getting back here."

"Uh uh." Not blinking, Fornell nodded.

Morrow steered him towards the cupboard Ducky kept the 'medicinal' brandy stored in. "This the first time you've ridden with Gibbs when he's in that much of a hurry?"

"Uh uh." Still not blinking, Fornell nodded again as he accepted the glass from the Director.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." That got Fornell's attention as he gave the older man a horrified look.

Ducky chose that moment to step out and the room quieted to hear the prognosis. "Timothy came though our little adventure today just fine." When Gibbs and the rest of the team started to thank him for protecting McGee, Ducky laughed and held up his hand.

"I'm afraid I was nothing more than grunt labor and a chauffer today. It was Agent McGee that engaged our attacker in a gun battle, it was Agent McGee that kept him pinned down so we could make our escape, it was Agent McGee that shot out his tire so we couldn't be followed and it was Agent McGee who navigated a safe path to allow us to reach the Yard without interference from any more rogue members of the CIA." Behind him, Tim had also stepped out and was quietly listening, blushing a little bit more at each word while Gibbs' smile grew wider with each word.

When Ducky was finished, Gibbs gave him a nod and a pat on the back before he moved to stand in front of McGee. A look passed between the two men. Leroy Jethro Gibbs was never known to be an excessive talker, he left that to Ducky and to Abby, but there were dozens of things he wanted to say to the young man at the moment. He settled for the one that said it all.

"Welcome home."


	28. Chapter 28

**a/n - It's been a wild ride, and it is drawing to a close. Thanks to all for our wonderful reviews, they make it worth the long nights when the words don't quite come together. ne of you wished Gibbs would use the "P" word. It's coming, don't worry, it's just not a word he uses often. - Emerald**

It took over an hour to get everyone else back to work and the MCRT safely situated upstairs in Director Morrow's office along with Ducky, Abby and Agent Fornell. Much to his chagrin, McGee had been forced into a rolling office chair that had been pressed into service as a temporary wheelchair for the trip upstairs and was now tucked into the leather couch, wrapped in more blankets than he was aware NCIS even owned. His silent pleas for help were met by smirks from the men observing as Abby and Kate alternated between smoothing and fluffing.

Eventually it was Tom Morrow who took pity on him and got the group back on track. "Miss Sciuto, what did you find with the photos you were trying to enhance?"

Abby pulled back, handing the extra pillow to Kate before picking up the stack of photos she had brought upstairs with her. She flipped through them as she explained her findings. "There were a couple of shots were I was able to pull up some good details, but it looks like our mystery man was wearing a hoodie, because I still don't have any face shots." She passed out the pictures, allowing all of them to see what she had to work with.

DiNozzo grinned. "That's no hoodie."

"It has to be." Abby fumbled with the computer on Morrow's desk, trying to pull up the images stored on the flash drive. Behind her, McGee was trying to get up while Kate was trying to keep him down.

"Kate, let me up."

Amused, Gibbs watched for a few moments before he moved in to help his youngest agent. As soon as he had McGee on his feet, he steadied him while McGee gently pushed Abby out of the way and pulled up the images onto the plasma mounted on the office wall. Once the image was up and was the main object of attention, Gibbs eased McGee into an office chair with a smile and ruffled his hair. Behind them, Morrow watched the interaction, seeing now that Gibbs, the man he thought not capable of understanding what the boy had suffered, understood the young man's needs better than any of them. Satisfied, he turned his attention to the screen and the image they were arguing over.

Despite the enhancing, the image on the screen was still grainy, the limitations of the black and white camera apparent. The van was white, and was at a slight angle to the camera that caught it. Through the driver's side window, a figure was visible, wearing a bulky, dark colored coat. Something light colored came up from under the coat and over the top of the suspect's head. Between that and the angle of the face, no details were visible.

Abby turned to DiNozzo. "If that's not a hoodie, then what is it, a scarf?"

"Nope, that's hair, long blonde hair to be precise." Tony grinned at Kate and Gibbs who already knew where he was headed. "We'll need a better picture to hold up in court, but a DiNozzo can spot a natural blonde at one hundred yards, in the dark, through a security camera, no sweat."

Abby still wasn't convinced. "We don't have a blonde suspect."

Now it was Kate's turn to step in. "Oh, yeah, we do."

---NCIS---

"How could you have missed?"

"Nobody figured he was mobile yet."

"And you couldn't outrun him?"

"He shot me!"

"I'll do worse if we lose the money."

---NCIS---

"I really think he should be fed and then take a nap."

"No, he should get checked out at the hospital, then rest."

"Guys!" Heads swiveled as the third voice joined the fray. "I'm right here and I'm fine." He batted away the hand checking for fever, "really."

Kate and Abby continued to debate his care and feeding, rolling his chair backwards towards the door. McGee settled the argument by standing up. He wobbled a little, but Tony was there to help him balance. It took a few seconds for the girls to realize their load had gotten lighter.

"McGee!"

"Timmy!"

"Ladies!" Gibbs' voice broke through the argument. "Work, now." He pointed at the door, not budging until they left. Once the door closed behind them, he grabbed the abandoned chair and pushed McGee down into it before squatting down in front of him..

"Boss?"

Gibbs was still pointing, but now it was at McGee. "I want an honest assessment. Right now, how do you feel?" Behind him, Tony, Ducky and Director Morrow also waited.

McGee bit back what he was ready to say when he looked at Gibbs. It wasn't anger or impatience that drove the questions. He could see the worry in the older man's face. "Honestly? I'm tired, I'm sore, my feet and ankles ache, and I probably couldn't walk all the way to the elevator if my life depended on it." When Gibbs started to say something, Tim held his hand up and continued. "I'm also angry and fed up and tired of being somebody's favorite target. They did this to me so they could steal from our government and I need to be part of taking them down."

"We will do everything possible to take them down, Agent McGee." The man in question did not turn to respond to the Director, but instead continued to focus on Gibbs.

"I need to be part of it. When this goes down, I need to be there. I need them to look at me and know they didn't break me. I need them to know that no matter what they tried, I'm still here. I need to finish my work."

Gibbs watched closely as McGee pled his case. The pain and the exhaustion he admitted to was there, but also there were the traits that made him bring this young man onto the team in the first place. The stubbornness, the determination, and the desire for justice shone through stronger than the exhaustion and the pain and made Gibbs' decision easier.

"What's left for you to work on?"

"I want to start backtracing the information that was encrypted in those files. I'm hoping there will be enough ghosts left in their network that I can trace where it originated. If I can connect the messages with each workstation they came from, I should be able to map out their chain of command. I'll need full access to the computers in MTAC to do it, though."

Gibbs saw Morrow give a slight nod out of the corner of his eye as he laid out ground rules. "All right, under the following conditions: one, Tony is your gopher. You are not going to do any running around. Two, when Ducky tells you it's time to rest or eat there will be no arguments. Three, no hiding how you're feeling. If you start hurting worse or something changes, you tell one of us."

"Agreed." McGee knew he didn't have the strength to both argue with Gibbs and do the work he wanted to do. He waited while Gibbs continued to study him.

Apparently satisfied, Gibbs stood and turned to DiNozzo. "Take him down to MTAC, make sure he has what he needs. We meet in three hours to get a sit-rep from everyone" He waited for that cocky grin from DiNozzo as he rolled McGee out the door before facing Morrow.

"It's as much about giving him back control of his life as it is about solving the case, Sir."

Morrow smiled in understanding. "I can tell you have the entire situation well in hand."


	29. Chapter 29

**a/n - sorry for the delay. was not being social over the weekend for me and then we've not had coinciding naps here this week. I was going to wait and post after the last chapter was done, but decided that if I waited much longer you guys would track me down and lynch me. Thanks for all the wonderful comments, did you remember who the blonde was yet?**

Three hours may not seem like a long time when the enemy has been planning for almost a year, but with the right motivation a great deal can be done. When the deadline passed, the members of the MCRT gathered again in Director Morrow's office along with Abby and Ducky. Under McGee's careful supervision, DiNozzo was tacking up the photos of their suspects and connecting them with various colored yarn while Abby was loading more enhanced surveillance photos into the computer connected to the plasma. Kate came in and sat next to Gibbs, clutching a bulging file folder. No one was surprised when the door opened one last time to admit Tobias Fornell with his own stack of files.

"All right, people, what do we have?" Director Morrow looked around at the focused group. "Agent Todd, why don't you start us off?

"Our one blonde in the group," Kate took the remote from Abby and pulled up an image on the plasma. "Her name is Stephanie Bolton, and she's currently the personal assistant for Deputy Director Hayes, but get this: she was a trained field agent but got bumped down to support staff after she botched an assignment."

That was a development that caught everyone's attention. Gibbs leaned forward, interested. "Botched it how?"

Kate's grin grew wider. "Supposedly she made a mistake in translating some documents and the ten person team she was with was overwhelmed when they raided what was supposed to be a lightly guarded facility in Columbia. The only survivors of her team besides herself were Byers, Dickerson, Adams and those two." She pointed out the two mug shots pinned up on the wall of the two suspects cooling their heels downstairs.

"How… convenient."

Kate agreed with Morrow's assessment. "Very. Oh, and she went straight from that assignment to being Hayes' assistant. The only problem is that I can't make any connection between her and Hayes before she was assigned to him."

"Who authorized her transfer?" Gibbs turned to Fornell as he asked; hoping that if the answer wasn't in the dossier she had put together then perhaps the FBI might have the needed information. Kate shook her head first.

"The paperwork made so many loops through the bureaucracy by the time it was official that there is no way to know. For all we know, she authorized it herself."

"She may very well have done it herself." When McGee broke into the conversation, it startled everyone else. Without giving them a chance to question, he continued. "I've been going through her financials. Lots of interesting stuff there, but one is that before the botched mission she spent a great deal of her paycheck on night and online classes in computer programming, pretty much all the classes necessary to become a darn good hacker."

While this was going on, Abby was still working on the surveillance images, trying to compare them to the CIA personnel photo in Stephanie Bolton's file. "Umm, guys, we've got a problem." She took the remote from Kate and pulled up the photo she was working on. Just a sliver of a woman's face was visible, but it was enough to run a facial recognition program. "I only have a partial of the woman in the van, so the program can't give me one hundred percent results, but it can rule someone out. It's not her."

"No, it has to be her." Kate's protests were soft, while McGee was more adamant in his protests.

"Abby, it is her. I can prove it." He reached over and this time the remote was taken from Abby. He pulled up a map of the southwestern corner of the United States much to everyone's surprise. "Starting about six weeks after the first time they were successful in funneling money out, she made the first of three trips to see her elderly mother in a nursing home in Yuma, Arizona."

"Okaaaay…" One thing Anthony DiNozzo had learned in the last few days was to never take McGee's research for granted, but this was stretching it even for him. Nonetheless, he was willing to wait.

McGee took pity on them. "Her mother's been dead for two years. Look, I traced her activities. She flies into Yuma and there is no sign of her, no financial activity for three weeks. Each time it's the same thing, the minute Stephanie Barton falls off the map, Stephanie Barnes shows up. Barnes is the undercover identity she had as an operative. I can prove she reactivated the false identity from her computer." He was obviously tiring, but what he had discovered was too important so Gibbs bit back his desire to call a break for the young man.

After a quick break as Tony handed him a water bottle, McGee resumed telling what he had discovered. "I tracked her from Yuma to a plastic surgeon in Southern California. Three surgeries, all paid for with cash. So far there's been a nose job, cheek implants and liposuction on her neck. Her last official identification photo was taken the day before her first trip to Yuma."

Gibbs turned to Abby. "Would the surgery be enough to screw with the facial recognition program?

"Totally, Bossman. Especially since I'm working with only a partial face in these pictures. I need a current picture of our witch to make a positive ID."

"Fornell?" Gibbs knew the FBI was a better source for surveillance on the CIA, especially since his team was under their radar. Fornell was already on the phone and they waited for what he could tell them.

"I've got a team moving into place right now. As soon as they can get a picture, we'll have it. I've also heard from the team watching Hayes." He shook his head as he gave the bad news. "He's still at his country home and he's had absolutely no contact with Barton or Byers. We have nothing to connect him to any of this."

Tony wasn't ready to give up. "There has to be something. What about the money? Where did he come up with the money for that country home?"

"Married it." Kate pulled up a photo of Mrs. Hayes and let the rest of the team stare at it on the plasma. She was a sturdy woman with a strong jaw and a perpetual scowl. "Mrs. Eunice Hayes was the sole heir to her grandfather's estate estimated at over seven million dollars."

While the men stared at the image, the women smirked at them. Eventually Tony said what they were all thinking. "Well, that explains the mistress."

---NCIS---

While they were waiting for Fornell's people to come through with new photos of their lead suspect, Gibbs decided to take another crack at breaking a CIA operative. He chose to start with Albert Finch, the suspect who had run and resisted arrest, much to Sykes' delight. Sykes personally brought the man in and attached his handcuffs to the table, grinning as he did.

Gibbs didn't even attempt to hide his glee at having the man in custody. He laid out the photos in a row on the table, noticing the increased nervousness when the photo of Stephanie Bolton was added to the mix. He watched carefully as he spoke. "You'll have to forgive us; we haven't printed up the pictures of her since her latest plastic surgery." There was a flutter of confusion on Finch's face before he shut down again. It was all Gibbs needed. "What's wrong, Albert, didn't you know about that little trick? A whole series of procedures, each one pretty minor on its own. I bet you didn't even notice the difference, did you? It's just enough to screw with the facial recognition programs and make her untraceable, or at least it would have. Why do you think she didn't tell you about this little part of the plot?" He waited, watching the man squirm, while the interrogation room door opened behind them.

---NCIS---

Out in the hallway, DiNozzo now knew what it was like when your kid went out on his first date as he straightened McGee's tie for the tenth time in as many minutes. Frustrated, Tim batted his hands away and straightened it himself while Tony backed away to take a good look at the younger man. He was still sitting in the chair Tony had wheeled down, but now he was dressed in his best suit. The bruises on his face were fading, now an assortment of green and yellow marks surrounding the purple centers. His greatest difficulties were the deep bruises on the bottom of his feet, still making walking painful. Larger shoes, borrowed from Andrews, along with multiple pairs of socks gave as much comfort as possible.

McGee checked the file he was holding as DiNozzo reminded him of the important fact. "His fingerprints were on one of the blackjacks they used on you."

"Yeah," McGee carefully stood up, taking a moment to gain his balance. "He doesn't hit as hard as he thinks he does."

Tony grinned at him. "Nah, kid, you're just tougher than they thought." Returning the smile, Tim straightened his shoulders and walked through the door into Interrogation Room Two.


	30. Chapter 30

**a/n - almost to the end, one more chapter after this. Thanks to all for the wonderful feedback, you make my day.**

Finch looked up in shock as McGee strode into the room. "What's wrong, Agent Finch, not so brave when you're the one in chains? Or should that be ex-agent?" McGee smirked as he sat down. "Yeah, I can't imagine your agency is going to even acknowledge your existence after this little fiasco." He leaned closer and lowered his voice as if revealing a great secret. "I'm curious, what's it like? To be so totally inconsequential to the people you depend on every day? To be tossed away like yesterday's garbage? You see, I'll never know what that's like, because I know my team will always have my back." On the other side of the two way mirror, DiNozzo and Kate exchanged pleased glances as they looked on with pride. Behind them, Director Morrow observed the activity on both sides of the mirror.

Satisfied, McGee leaned back and opened the file folder, replacing the photos spread out across the table. The photos of Dickerson and Adams were autopsy photos marked 'deceased' while the photos of Finch and Dorsey were replaced with their mug shots. Only the photos of Bolton and Byers were unchanged. Next he laid out photos of the crime scene where he had been held. McGee continued to question Finch as the rest of the team watched. "Did you honestly think it was a coincidence that my people found it before a clean up team arrived?"

A slight twitch and they knew they had him. "Whose idea was it to not bother with gloves?"

"It was hers." Finch tugged at his hair as McGee's question broke him. "Damn it, she said not to worry about leaving evidence; that she'd take care of it."

McGee gave a slow shake of his head. "That should have been your first clue, Albert. All that evidence you guys left behind and there's not one fingerprint, not one hair, not one skin cell of hers there. What does that tell you?" He waited a moment for the truth to sink in. Next to him, Gibbs looked pleased and let him continue the interrogation.

"Why'd you join the CIA?"

Startled, Finch answered honestly. "I wanted to help my country."

McGee ignored the snort from his boss as he continued in a soft voice, drawing Finch in with his words. "How did it help our country to steal those weapons and sell them to the enemy?" He added another photograph to the ones on the table, but this one Gibbs did not recognize so he waited while McGee continued. "I'd like you to meet Seaman Joshua Clark, born, raised and now buried in Brookhaven, Mississippi. He was the oldest of five children and wanted to use his GI benefits to be the first in his family to go to college. He was gunned down by guerrillas using the stolen rifles you sold to them."

By now, Finch's shoulders were shaking as he hung his head and McGee moved in for the kill. "Was killing Seaman Clark part of helping your country, Albert? Because I don't think his family will agree with you. Now, in just a few hours a plane is leaving with a load of bearer bonds. You're never going to see a dime of that money; she never had any intentions of sharing that with you. You've been abandoned by the traitors you were working with and you have shamed your agency. It's time to do the right thing and tell us the rest of the plan."

"God, she made it sound so easy." Finch picked up the photo of the murdered sailor. "No one was supposed to get hurt."

"How'd she get control of the bonds?"

It took over two hours for Finch to detail all the steps it took to pull of their con. In some ways, the simplicity of the plan was shocking. Fornell entered the observation room in time to hear how they had accomplished it and was immediately on the phone with his own director, closing the same loopholes that existed in their system. When he hung up he noticed Morrow smiling at him.

"We all have the same basic system, Sir. Perhaps you should also be checking?" Morrow just smiled wider at the FBI agent's words.

"I'm sure Agent McGee has it well in hand." They both turned their attention back to the interrogation room when Gibbs interrupted Finch.

"At some point, she had to get something signed off. If Hayes wasn't in on it, how did she pull that off?"

Finch leaned back in his chair. "I don't know. All I know is that she thought it was funnier than hell how easy it was."

---NCIS---

Something had been bothering Kate about the interactions she saw between Hayes and his assistant ever since that first day. Watching McGee break her accomplice, she realized what it was. Excited, she turned to the other occupants of the observation room. "I know how she did it, because I've done the same thing." She froze, realizing how that sounded. "Well, not to you, Sir, and it was while I was in high school and working at this really lousy fast food place and…" She trailed off as DiNozzo started laughing and whacked his arm.

Tom Morrow had to chuckle at their antics before he held up a hand. "I'm sure we can overlook any crimes you committed while in high school, Agent Todd, if you just explain how you think she managed to get him to sign off on two hundred million dollars."

"Actually Sir, I think I need to show you and I need your assistant to help me with it."

Intrigued, Morrow followed her out the door, leaving behind a very curious DiNozzo and an equally curious AV tech.

---NCIS---

A very irate Deputy Director Hayes stood in Tom Morrow's outer office after being removed from his own office by a combined team of both NCIS and FBI agents. "What is the meaning of this? You drag me out of my office, embarrass me in front of my agency and then make me wait? Where is Morrow?"

"Right here." The smile was predatory, something his people had rarely seen on the man. "Why don't you join me in my office?"

Carefully and methodically Tom Morrow laid out what his team had discovered, showing every detail, every piece of evidence collected along the way. The entire MCRT was sitting off to the side, enjoying every moment of watching the pompous man sweat over their discoveries of what was happening right under his nose, as was Fornell. Still he blustered, grasping at straws, refusing to accept what he had been blind to.

"This isn't possible. Even if they had tried to do this, it couldn't have happened without my signature, and I know I didn't sign anything like that." Hayes sat back, glaring, challenging anyone to prove him wrong.

Morrow started to explain again but was interrupted by a knock at the door as his assistant stepped inside the office. "I'm sorry, Director, but the legal department is waiting for this to be signed." She stepped up to the desk and laid out a large bound document, similar to the dozens of documents every director signed every day. Colorful sticky tabs had been added to indicate the many places waiting for his signature. His assistant flipped through the pages, holding the previous ones up just high enough so he could comfortably sign his name at the bottom of the indicated pages. When he sat back, finished, Kate stepped forward and stopped his assistant from picking the document back up.

"I've always been curious about what's in these documents, haven't you, Tony?"

DiNozzo leaned back with a lazy smile. "Yes I have, Kate. A director's got to really trust his assistant, otherwise who knows what he's signing." Morrow joined him in smiling, while Hayes became visibly nervous.

"It's a bound document, how could anyone sneak something else in there?"

Rather than answer Hayes, Kate picked up the papers in question by the bound edge at the top and shook it. Several loose pages came free and fluttered down to the surface of the desk. Hayes stared, horrified, at the physical proof it could be done.

Kate handed the remaining bound pages to the assistant with her thanks before picking up the pages she had added earlier. With a straight face she read off what Morrow had 'unwittingly' signed. "Oh look, I got a pay raise giving me double what DiNozzo makes." She read off of the next page, "I now have an assigned parking space right next to the building." The last page she handed over to DiNozzo to read.

"What? I have to tell Kate that she's smarter than I am every single day?" He looked at his two partners who both were smirking at him. Behind them Fornell started to say something to him, but was interrupted by his cell phone.

While this was going on, Gibbs moved closer and leaned over Hayes' shoulder to whisper in his ear. "Still think she couldn't pull one over on you? Now I think the only question is whether or not she takes you down with her."

Fornell snapped his phone closed. "She's cleaning up loose ends. We just found Byers in the Potomac River. He's got a shoulder wound, but he was killed with a bullet through his head."

"Am I a loose end?"

"Deputy Director Hayes, are you formally asking NCIS for protection?" For the first time since he had become director, Tom Morrow wished he had a hidden camera in his office.


	31. Chapter 31

They made an amusing sight, Abby and Darrell, as they studied the documents spread out on the lab table. Darrell Woods spent most of his days in the Questionable Documents Lab at Quantico and was thrilled when Agent Fornell personally sent for him. He had never had to work so fast and never with such an interesting lab partner, but they were piecing together which papers Stephanie Bolton had slipped into which packet. In the outer lab, DiNozzo found the scene enjoyable.

"So where did Fornell dig up this dinosaur? He's got to be close to eighty." Kate smiled at his comment. She had worked with Darrell on several counterfeiting cases while she had been with the Secret Service.

"Try ninety-three. Rumors in the Secret Service are that he's actually immortal." Behind them, Hayes entered the room flanked by Gibbs and Morrow with Fornell bringing up the rear. Hayes stared at the lab technicians working on his signed documents.

"I want all those returned to me as soon as they are finished examining them."

Gibbs shook his head. "No can do, I'm afraid, Deputy Director.

Before Hayes could mount a protest, Director Morrow stepped in. "The legitimate papers will eventually be returned to the CIA, of course. It will take some time and there are a great number of channels necessary, but at some point they will be back in the possession of someone at the CIA. The other papers, the ones connected to the theft of two hundred million dollars, I'm afraid will stay in our custody as part of our investigation. You do understand, I'm sure, Deputy Director Hayes."

For a moment Hayes wondered if his life would have been easier if Stephanie had been successful in framing him.

---NCIS---

"Ducky, I can rest at my desk." Tim frowned at the makeshift bed that the medical examiner had made up on one of the autopsy tables. It may have been well padded, but it was still kind of creepy to try to sleep down here. Ducky just patted the table.

"I promised Jethro that you would rest while they worked on the documents, so rest you will. I assure you this table is much more comfortable than being hunched over your desk, young man, so up you go." McGee had never argued with the doctor, but the idea of sleeping on an autopsy table was pretty unsettling, even if it was something Gibbs was known to do. When Ducky turned around with the large cutters he used to separate the sternum from the ribcage, Tim quickly acquiesced and settled into his assigned bed. Ducky didn't let him see his smile as he turned back around.

---NCIS---

"We can prove which paper was hidden between which pages in each document in question." Abby's words were confident as Darrell nodded emphatically beside her.

He wiped the dust off his glasses as he explained further. "What young Abigail means is that we can prove it right down to a molecular level. I am quite looking forward to showing this evidence in court. It will be a record breaking day when the testing we have developed is accepted as fact by the judicial system." The two shared a smile as they turned to the director, Abby jumping slightly as she remembered something.

"Oh, let me give you back the test samples." With a look of apology to Kate, Abby handed back the three pages they had hidden to prove to Hayes the possibility that he had been duped. Tom Morrow folded two of the pages carefully and placed them in the inner pocket of his jacket. The third he handed to Kate.

"I believe you have earned this, Agent Todd." Kate accepted the paper with a wide smile and looked at DiNozzo, bouncing slightly on her heels.

"Thank you so much, Director. I will enjoy it so very much." Behind them, Hayes observed, realizing just how different the two agencies were. Morrow watched Hayes out of the corner of his eye. The man was beaten, but still trying to hold onto a few scraps of dignity. Morrow almost felt sorry for the man, but couldn't quite muster enough compassion to truly care.

---NCIS---

The combined teams escorted Hayes into MTAC later that day. He noticed that McGee was given a hero's welcome and escorted to the best seat in the house to watch the take down of Stephanie Bolton as she waited on Cebaco Island for the private plane carrying the bearer bonds. A Navy Seal team was hiding in the jungle, ready to take her into custody and satellites beamed the entire event back to the screens in MTAC. The door behind Hayes opened back up as Director Jamison was ushered in to sit next to him. Neither man said a word as the image showed a seaplane landing in the shallow water.

The pilot was obviously skilled at water landings and brought the plane up onto the sandy beach with no difficulties. Once he killed the engine, a figure stepped out of a nearby shack; it was a woman with short brown hair and brown eyes. Back in MTAC, Gibbs turned to McGee who was already running the facial recognition program, using the images the FBI had captured before she had caught a flight using her undercover name and identification.

The computer program dinged and McGee turned to the others in the room. "It's her; we have a positive match." Next to him one of the MTAC technicians relayed the positive ID to the waiting Seals. The aerial view from the satellite showed the Seals moving into place as she stepped closer to the airplane, unaware that her plans had been discovered. The pilot handed her a large satchel and waited for his reward for delivering the merchandise. None of the watchers back in the Navy Yard were surprised when his reward was comprised of a single shot to his head, but they were surprised at how easily she drew her weapon.

The Seals swarmed the beach and quickly surrounded her and the plane. The relays from the microphones worn by the Seals echoed as they repeatedly ordered her to stand down, to drop her weapon, to give it up. Two hundred million dollars may be able to buy a person a great deal, but not invincibility as Stephanie Bolton found when she tried to outgun an entire Seal Squadron

---NCIS---

In the anticlimactic moments afterwards, MTAC was uncharacteristically quiet. After the days of hurt and uncertainty, the woman they had come to hate had taken the easy way out, taking with her any knowledge of unknown accomplices as they all turned to stare at Director Jamison. He stood, methodically brushing unseen lint from the lapel of his designer suit. "I will be expecting the return of the satchel with all due speed."

Instead of answering him, Tom Morrow nodded at the technician to his right. The man returned the nod and pulled up another image on the screen. "Mr. Secretary, sir, I assume you saw all of that?"

The Secretary of the Navy was an imposing man, especially when he filled an entire screen. "A well planned out operation, Director Morrow, congratulations to you and your people. Director Jamison, the satchel will remain in the custody of the Navy until such time as Director Morrow tells me his investigation is complete. Then NCIS will return the satchel and its contents to the General Accounting Office. After all, the money involved wasn't actually part of your agency's operating budget. I'm sure you can understand that. Good day, gentlemen." His image blinked out and Jamison stormed towards the door, Hayes at his heels. Gibbs stepped forward, blocking their path.

"It must be very embarrassing. We're such a small agency, bottom of the ARMFED food chain and all that, heck our annual operating budget would only be a line item in that big budget of yours." Gibbs couldn't help but to smirk as he cleared the path for the angry man, now speaking to his back as he left MTAC. "I'm sure next year's budget hearings will be very entertaining, but what I'm not sure of is how your political cronies will take this."

Jamison spun around, shoving Hayes back when the other man ran into him. "This isn't over, Agent Gibbs!"

It was DiNozzo that answered him. "Oh, I think it is. After all, what can you do about it? Complain to Homeland Security that we stopped your agents from stealing money?" Without a comeback, Jamison settled for trying to slam the door behind him. Unfortunately, the hydraulics used to control the heavy security doors made even that impossible. Once the doors had finally closed, Fornell cupped his ear with his hand and made a show of listening for something.

"Did you hear that? I do believe it's the sound of someone's political clout fluttering away. Take care of yourself, you dragonslayer." He clapped a puzzled Gibbs on the back before heading out, himself.

---NCIS---

By unspoken agreement, the entire group ended up at Guffy's after leaving headquarters, even Director Morrow stopped in for a drink before heading home. The manager took one look at the size of the group and opened up the banquet room for their comfort and his sanity. Most of the wait staff had heard rumors about what had happened to the young agent the rest of the group was fussing over and were eager to serve the boisterous group. Ducky fussed at first when Tony handed Tim a beer, but the younger man reminded the doctor that his pain pills were still at Gibbs' home and he hadn't had one since before the shootout. Once that was settled, DiNozzo turned to Kate to ask the question he had been dying to ask ever since that moment in the observation room.

"So, Katie, tell us exactly how you knew she got him to sign off on the money transfer? I believe it had something to do with prior knowledge of the method." She blushed and the entire room quieted down to hear the story.

After glaring at DiNozzo, which did no good, she resigned herself to the facts and began to tell about the events leading up to her senior prom.

"Okay, my last year of high school I worked at this really nasty fast food place. The manager's daughter was trying to steal my boyfriend so she convinced her dad to not let me have the day of the prom off from work. He was getting transferred to the corporate office the day after the time off requests had to be turned in, so I couldn't wait for his replacement."

DiNozzo wouldn't admit it, but he was impressed with her ingenuity and spunk. "So you slipped your request in with a bunch of other papers he had to sign, right? You never got caught?"

"Nope I didn't get caught," Kate paused to finish her drink. "The new manager just expected all the high school kids working there to have the night off and he scheduled the adults to cover the shift."

Gibbs leaned forward and tapped his beer bottle against Ducky's ale mug. "Good thing she's on our side." Both old friends watched in amusement as a rapidly fading McGee was hugged by Abby and kissed by Connie from the financial department. "Looks like it's somebody's bedtime."

"Come on, kiddo, you're going to stay at my place a few more days." McGee was a little unstable when he stood, but Gibbs didn't call him on it. It might have been the three beers, it certainly could have been the exhaustion catching up with him, and it was even possible that the multiple lipstick marks on his face showed the cause. Whatever it was, Gibbs knew that Timothy McGee had earned it.

---NCIS---

The two men were quiet during the drive, exhaustion and contemplation compelling the silence. When they were in the driveway, Gibbs pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it over. "Director Morrow gave me this for you. This doctor specializes in treating people who have been hurt in ways like you were. Whenever you're ready I'll drive you, all right?"

McGee swallowed hard as he read the information on the card. Deep down he knew that he would need more help than just his team to fully recover, and this gentle reassurance that it was alright to need that extra help lifted a burden he didn't realize he was carrying. "Thanks, Boss. I'm not quite there yet, but when I am, you'll be the first, well, second one to know." He tapped the card as he spoke before sliding it into his pocket.

The cracked door frame was a stark reminder of what had occurred in his home. Gibbs propped the door closed as best he could without drawing too much attention to what he was doing. They both deliberately didn't look at the bullet holes as they made their way through the house. Gibbs delivered him to the downstairs bathroom. "Tomorrow, if you're up to it, I'll help you get up the stairs and you can have a soak in the tub. Down here's only a shower."

"Actually right now that sounds kind of good." The forced enthusiasm wasn't reflected in his face and Gibbs placed both of his hands on Tim's shoulders to look at him closely.

"You sure, kid?"

McGee sighed. "No, but I've got to face it sometime and I'm pretty sick of sponge baths." He straightened and began to remove his jacket and tie. Gibbs watched for a moment to make sure he was now steady on his feet before moving out of the small bathroom. He took the stairs two at a time to the room at the end of the hall where he stored all the useless things he had been given over the years. In the back of the closet he found the heavy, oversized terrycloth robe one of his ex-wives had given him. He ripped off the tags as he came back downstairs.

By the time Gibbs tapped on the door and let himself in, McGee was in the shower. The sound of water echoed loudly in the small tile covered room. "You doing okay in there?"

"I'm okay, Boss."

Unconvinced by the shaky voice, Gibbs hitched his hip up on the countertop and began to tell stories about his days in boot camp, his first encounter with KP duty, and his first time on leave at a wild Singapore nightclub, anything to help drown out the sound of that damn water. Just as he was afraid he was going to run out of funny stories the water turned off.

"Thanks, Boss." McGee sounded drained and looked like a drowned rat. He reached for the towel next to Gibbs, but instead Gibbs eased him into the robe and tied it around his waist.

Gibbs could feel Tim trembling with the effort of holding it together and decided to end the charade right then. He picked up the towel and gently dried Tim's face and hair as if he were a child, all the while easing him closer. Once he had Tim's forehead resting on his shoulder, he wrapped his arms around him, encouraging him to let go. "Easy, Tim, I've got you. It's all right, let it go, that's it."

When the sobs came, they were silent, as Tim clung to Gibbs. The older man let himself be the anchor, murmuring nonsense until the storm passed. As the weight on his shoulder increased, Gibbs walked him to the hospital bed and eased him into it. Tim was asleep before his head was on the pillow. He watched the younger man sleep, brushing his hair back, until he seemed completely settled. Only then did Gibbs retreat to the kitchen to pull down a bottle of the good stuff he kept hidden away. Once he had a glass poured, he wandered through his home, taking a good look at the damage caused when Byers had attacked McGee and Ducky. The medical examiner had told him enough details for him to determine which bullets came from Byers and which ones had been fired by McGee, but even without that information, the differences were clear. The wild, indiscriminate shots came from the rogue agent intent on covering his own crimes, while the careful, successful shots came from a well trained agent in control of his actions.

His musings were interrupted by sounds of distress coming from McGee's room. Gibbs rushed back in before the nightmare woke him. "Easy, Tim, easy." Gibbs smoothed the blankets as the nightmare faded away, speaking once again before sleep retook the young agent. "You did good, kid. I'm proud of you."

**a/n - Well you've made it all the way to the end of this monster, thank you. I hope you found it an enjoyable read. Thank you for all the wonderful feedback, let me know how you liked this now that it's finished. Some of you may be upset that Hayes and/or Jamison weren't led away in handcuffs. I considered it for quite a while, but in the game known as DC, this was a more painful punishment - this loss of power. Who knows. I may visit with them again, do you think they'd be happy to see Gibbs and co? Over the weekend I will start posting my next story. It will be a wild, fun romp and I hope you will enjoy it. After that will be the long awaited sequel to the Tarot Twins. Stay tuned**


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